You got to dig a little deeper

[avondale]

That's what the period means? The post has been removed? I was wondering what was going on, as well...

 

[col1]

Hi, @LSUlakes @Herding_Cats @avondale thanks for asking after me.

I am ok. I was reading back through my 5 years of entries and it became apparent in 5 years of the Training Log it was testament to me having achieved not very much of anything I had set out to do running wise over the years with familiar patterns of big plans derailed by little follow through.

I have struggled a bit over the past year or so with the loss of my career and what that has done in regards to low mood and reading back through that led me to decide to delete it.

I am still reading the boards and commenting here and there and I very much appreciate you checking in with me it means a lot

 

[GollyGadget]

I'm sorry that you are feeling this way. A lot of the reason that I document my training is to share that progress isn't always linear and things happen. You are not alone. Ultimately I run because I enjoy it. Not because I expect to see big performance gains.

Keep doing whatever it is that brings you joy.

 

[The Expert]

SO true @GollyGadget I keep this little meme handy to remind myself of that.

 

[col1]

I'm sorry that you are feeling this way. A lot of the reason that I document my training is to share that progress isn't always linear and things happen. You are not alone. Ultimately I run because I enjoy it. Not because I expect to see big performance gains.

Keep doing whatever it is that brings you joy.

Thank you I think at the moment I don’t know what brings me joy, I have a void at the moment I need to fill, not necessarily another job but I have no clue.

I have always been task oriented and checking items of makes me less hard on myself and running makes me feel good when I get it done.

I thought when I got this extra time I could really focus on it and maximise the potential I never could before due to work, kids etc.

The other day I just kind of chose a bad day to read back through it when not in good mindset. I am okay and I just need to find my new thing, passions or purpose…..

Thanks for taking the time to respond it’s much appreciated

 

[col1]

SO true @GollyGadget I keep this little meme handy to remind myself of that.

View attachment 995430

@The Expert thank you I am definitely in squiggly line phase at the moment hoping for some straight line soon

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I understand how you're feeling. I haven't ran much at all in the past two years due to a combination of work, stress, and knee pain. My daughter is running cross country this year and while I'm being supportive of her, it's also a little discouraging to know how much progress/fitness I've lost. Cheers from somewhere in that squiggly line.

 

[col1]

I understand how you're feeling. I haven't ran much at all in the past two years due to a combination of work, stress, and knee pain. My daughter is running cross country this year and while I'm being supportive of her, it's also a little discouraging to know how much progress/fitness I've lost. Cheers from somewhere in that squiggly line.

Thanks, hopefully we will get off the squiggly line and onto the straight soon

 

[col1]

A little bit running related. Decided to create a little bit of fan art. Looking forward to running round the decks in 20 days.

 

[avondale]

A little bit running related. Decided to create a little bit of fan art. Looking forward to running round the decks in 20 days.

Would love to see that GPS track! LOL

 

[col1]

Bit of an update from me. I saw a clip on the internet of Tom Hanks saying words to the effect of , this too shall pass, time is your ally and if nothing else just wait it out.

And over the past couple of months things have turned a corner. In running and in life in general.

In running I signed up for a 10k 10 weeks ago and started a 10k Garmin plan. I selected a plan with a time goal of Sub 1hr, however I recognised then as I do now I won’t get close to that but I wanted the plan to be challenging to where I was at that point. Over the course of the 10 weeks I completed 36 of the scheduled 45 runs. The missed runs were due to 6 days where I was unwell and missing 3 whilst on vacation so an 80% completion rate. I was happy with that as I really wanted to stick to the plan and see it through and I feel I have mostly done that.

I have really liked the Garmin Coach plan as it has a lot of different workouts and every week has a couple of different sessions and the beauty of it is the watch has it all set up and I just look every time it beeps and do what it tells me at that pace for that distance and it even beeps to keep me in that range.

Also for whatever reason I have felt more compelled to complete the plan than I ever did when I used to follow a written one

That plan led me to complete my first 100 mile month in 14 years and my Vo2 max has increased by 2 points (one more to go until I am out of fair and back into good) and fitness age from 54 to 48. (I’m 55 )

The race predictor on Garmin currently shows 1.00.29 for a 10k however it also shows 27.29 for 5k, see picture below to see how accurate that is

I did a 10k run last week at more or less full effort albeit on tired legs and was 1.05 dead on, so I’ll aim for just below that if I can get 1.04.xx I would be happy with that.

The main goal is to complete the race and earn my medal, which I failed to do back in April.

Last week it was Pacer week at my local park run and they had a confirmed 30 minute pacer, I decided to attend and see if I could get below 30 for the first time since early 2023.


It was challenging as when I lined up I was about 10 feet behind the pacer but lots of people filled the gap so when we took of that gap widened and the first half a mile is very narrow and it was a bit muddy so a lot of people jumping around to try and avoid it.

Also annoyingly a runner with a dog was allowing the dog to dodge from one side to the other making getting past difficult.

I sped up a few times to get past but they kept passing me back so I had to put
In a big effort to eventually get clear.

I concentrated then on catching up to the pacer which I did around 2 mile mark. I hung on for dear life and at around 0.4 kilometres to go with some encouragement from the pacer I went for it.

Just on the approach to the finish a young runner about 8 or 9 years old who had been run walking with their Dad was on my shoulder desperately trying to pass me so slowed down bit to let them go with a few words of encouragement. I felt really happy

In non running related news the extended family issues that were causing me stress have improved greatly so that is great

And also rather scarily I am as of tomorrow returning to the workforce !!!

Having been out of things since July 2024 when I was served my notice I was approached by an agency for a 6 month contract. It is back in my industry but a different company. It is on site only 5 days a week but to be honest we had nothing major planned over the winter months and I feel this would allow me to kind of finish my working life on my terms and on a positive note.

Challenges are there are a lot of issues to fix and a a 2hr 40 min commute each way !! The commute is a pain but I’m only doing it as it’s for a short defined period of time. I may stay over in a hotel once or twice a week. I have to say I am feeling somewhat nervous

The money will be used toward Vacations in the coming years, and a potential trip to WDW marathon Weekend in 2027 or 2028

What I need to figure out is what running will look like over that 6 month period. There is a half marathon I was keen to do locally on the 1st of March and I had planned to just start a Half plan on Garmin once the 10k was done however it may be a challenge to fit it all in, I would drop down to a 4 day a week plan I think and just do the best I can. I have not yet seen the new workplace to see if I have any options there ?

Any away sorry for the huge ramble and if you made it this far thanks for reading

 

[jmasgat]

Glad to hear things have been going better. Good luck with the new job, and I hope you find a way to deal with that commute….ouch!

 

[col1]

Glad to hear things have been going better. Good luck with the new job, and I hope you find a way to deal with that commute….ouch!

Thank you !! Yeah it’s a challenge given the price of train travel I will stay over some nights and maybe use the car as well which cuts it in half but would put too many miles on the car to do it daily.

 

[col1]

Race Report : Regents Park London 10k.

I had registered for this race to try and get myself back in groove running wise. I trained quite well for it and as I said hit 100 miles in training for October.

My only 2 organised runs in last 2 years was the DNF in April at Blackpool Half and the Park Run last month.

My A Goal was to get in under 1hr 4 as I managed get 1hrs 5 in training last month in a hard effort. B Goal finish and get my medal.

I’m happy to say I managed 1hrs 3mins and 46 secs which I was very happy with.

A couple of things that I did that may have made it slightly more difficult, I didn’t run of 8 days prior to the race (New job challenges) I walked 22000 steps the day before (we are here for 5 nights for a combined anniversary and my DWs birthday. I also my have accidentally had a few alcoholic beverages the night before as well

The race was on the smaller side with about 300 or so participants, it was a little chaotic but overall organisation was ok.

I got there about 8.45 for a 9am start in the end it was about 9.10 we set off. I had decided I would just try to run relaxed and enjoy the run and get the medal and so long as I was under 1hr 10 it was fine.

The course was not hilly but was undulating which I heard a few complaining about, I had read earlier on line that was the case so was not too concerned.


I tried to keep an even pace and not get drawn into chasing after runner who passed me, it worked well for the most part and I kept a pretty even pace although I struggled in Mile 5, I think the repetition of the 3 loops and the undulation got to me a bit but I pushed in the last 1.2 as I thought under 1hr 5 was possible.



In last half a mile I gave up on my rule of not passing anyone who passed me as I had been playing leapfrog with someone and wanted to stay ahead, I unfortunately mistimed my kick for the finish and started it with 0.4 instead of 0.2 and ended up with a very painful stitch and had to ease off a bit and was thinking I would get passed right at the end by London School of Economics, Tennis 1st team girl, but i hung on victory was mine .

Medal claimed.


First medal earned since Springtime Surprise in 2023.

Went to the matinee of Wicked in the afternoon and whilst sitting down for nearly 3 hours was welcome, boy were those seats cramped.

Finished of the day with 29988 steps, I knew I was just under 30k but didn’t have the willpower to do the remaining 12

Today is Oxford street for Disney Store, NBA store and Selfridges where the my have a Disney Store pop up with Merch from all the Parks worldwide. Tomorrow we are going to see Disneys Hercules in Drury lane. So although not a Disney holiday we are keeping it as Disney as we can

 

[nancipants]

Congrats on the race!

 

[jmasgat]

Congrats! Hope you find a nice celebratory meal in the West End somewhere before your show.

 

[avondale]

Congratulations! Great race!

 

[col1]

So we made it to all 3 shopping destinations. NBA store had some cool autographed stuff but as usual Zero Sacramento Kings merch. I understand they are a small market team and particularly in the UK where basketball is a fringe sport won’t sell heaps but when the have Charlotte, Washington etc I feel the could do a few jerseys or shirts

Disney store was cool but nothing I can’t get online so despite seeing a few things I would like carrying them home didn’t appeal but I got to check them out for real before I buy them so was worth it.

And also apparently Red Stormtroopers are a thing , who knew ?


Stopped into Swarovski to pick up a birthday gift for DW to find out the store was completely remodelled to Wicked which was cool all green with Dresses on display worn in the movies. Nice considering we had just seen the stage show.



They also had an Elphaba outfit from the final scene before the interval in the stage show but there were people sitting close by so didn’t get a photo.

The Disney pop up shop was very cool with lots of parks stuff but as we are going to Florida and California in July we just window shopped although I was so tempted by this jacket but felt it was just a bit too loud.



Any way enough of my holiday and onto running matters.

I am targeting a half marathon on 1st of March and after a week off following the 10k it was time to kick off a new training plan.

As the Garmin plan had worked well I decided to stick with it and selected a 16 week plan by coach Amy. I have decided to pick a 4 day plan which is more realistic given current constraints.

I selected a time goal of 2.11 just because that was what was suggested but the race prediction currently on Garmin is 2.30. However judging by its prediction for my 5k and 20k and my actual performances in real life I would be 2.35 just now so in order to get there I will need to work hard on my diet as well as the running plan.

I had a 9 minute benchmark run which I did on the Thursday.

A 6.3 long run on Saturday and a 3.4 mile run on “tired legs” on Sunday so week 1 in the bag.

This week would be the first week having to fit in the weekday runs around new work schedule which is 0600 leaving house and 1900 home, weather has taken a real dip with temperatures just above freezing but fortunately on both scheduled run days I am attending different locations which means I will finish a bit earlier so managed to get todays run after work in good time and Thursday will hopefully be the same. However I accept that at some point super early freezing cold runs will have to be part of it…… just not this week…. I’m not ready.

Garmin also decided to throw a little pixie dust my way and my VO2 max which had increased to 39 but remained fair has now changed to good and fitness age now dropped to 47 small indicators things are moving in the right direction.

The new job is going well but there is a lot of challenges to fix which I don’t mind but on Friday after 5 days in the new role came the announcement that my boss who had set the terms of my assignment was moving to a new role and someone new would be starting this week we meet tomorrow early signs are not great wish me luck

If it doesn’t go well at least I can up my Half plan from 4 to 6 days a week and run in middle of the day

Have a great week everyone

Col