A quiet (running) end to a cracking year

13M double; recovery & general aerobic runs
4M am recovery run at ~8.30min/M
9M pm general aerobic run at ~6.15min/M

I'm going to do a long one tomorrow, so I kept it easier than originally planned today. Yasmin and I headed to the Heath first thing (over Parliament Hill, to Kenwood and back). And I made my way to our New Year's eve party in Queen's Park by a 9ish mile route. A fairly gentle end to a cracking year. My 36th. And best yet.

Steady

16M double; recover & general aerobic runs
6M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M
10M pm general aerobic run at ~6.15min/M

Today it was another case of squeezing running in between work and the like. I managed 10 along the river and up to Euston. My legs could feel yesterday's tempo. Which is good.

I'm loving my North London run to work (great sunrise over the City from Parliament Hill today) even if I haven't quite nailed a perfect route yet.

Tempo - in a storm

15M double; recovery & tempo runs
6M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M
9M pm including 5.5M tempo

My legs are definitely back on track. So running is now mainly restricted by being too busy.

I managed a pretty good tempo session along the river after work. The weather was atrocious. Horizontal rain. It was good fun. I was absolutely exhausted and feeling a bit busy by the time I got home. Not sure why. That doesn't normally happen on shorter runs.

Steady

15M double; recovery & general aerobic runs
7M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M
8M pm general aerobic run at ~6.00min/M

My legs were still tired this morning, but I think that was an after-effect of yesterday rather than the general tiredness I've had the last few days. Cos I was better by the evening. I felt much lighter on my feet and had a pretty good 8 miler.

Some speed for my sluggish legs

13M double; speed session & recovery run
8M am incl speed session with 2000-1600-1200-800-400 off 120-120-90-60s jog
5M pm recovery run at ~8.30min/M

Two runs around Port Meadow today. My legs are still feeling tired, but I managed a solid speed session. I like this one. No Garmin, so my speed was hard to judge, but it hurt. So that's good.

My second run was a gentle one with Yasmin. Mid-afternoon. One small lap of the Meadow.

Back to London (and work) tomorrow.

Legs pretty tired

13M double; recovery runs x2
7M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M
6M pm recovery run at ~6.30min/M

My legs are pretty tired. I'm not sure why really. Partly the hills up here in North London?? That would seem a bit pathetic. Probably at least partly just general tiredness from the house move and being non-stop recently. But it's probably also just one of those cyclical things - just like I was full of energy unexpectedly 2 weeks or so ago.

Thanks to the tiredness, I kept it to two short-ish ones today. Seven around Highgate Woods in the morning and then six into and around the centre of Oxford in the evening.

My second one was done wearing my new ultra-reflective Nike running jacket. A Christmas present from Y. Life insurance.

A Christmas 15

15M am medium long run at ~6.30min/M

Gorgeous Christmas morning run taking in Highgate Wood, the Heath, Primrose Hill and Regent's Park (and back). And all before breakfast, so the rest of the day was free for eating and presenting. My legs need to get used to the hills up North London way - they were tired by the end.

Five

5M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M

Not much again today. Just a run across the Heath to Muswell Hill before Xmas preparations entered full swing.

We are North!

17M double; recovery & general aerobic runs
5M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack
12M pm general aerobic run at ~6.15min/M with pack

We have arrived North. And to start things off, I headed to work via Parliament Hill. Not a direct route. But the diversion made it 5 miles. And the view was nice.

I squeezed in a decent number of evening miles today. Pack had my computer in, so I wasn't going for it. But it was a good spin along the river and around Battersea.

Just one run

6M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack

Moving day. Just a brief one along the river.

Easy

12M double; recovery runs x2
5M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M with pack
7M pm recovery run at ~6.30min/M

A couple of short ones only. To and from work. Busy.

A good session along the river

14M double; recovery run & speed session
6M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M
8M pm speed incl 2000-1600-1200-800-400m session off 120-120-90-60s

Another sneaky spin around a very dark Brockwell Park this morning.

And then a really good speed session along the river. I did the same 2000-1600-1200-800-400m routine as a couple of weeks ago. Felt good. Legs still hurting.

Packing now.

Steady start to the week

16M double; recovery run & general aerobic run
6M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M
10M pm general aerobic run at ~6.00min/M

A steady start to my week. A couple of runs squeezed in before clinic (in the countryside near Chelmsford) and between clinic and signing rental contracts for our new short term abode (this second run was up and down the river from Temple). My legs feel exercised but fine after yesterday's tempo running.

Tempo - my last one around Brockwell Park

10M am including 6M tempo + 1M tempo

Probably my last run around Brockwell Park. I must have run around it several hundred times over the last few years. Maybe a thousand. But we're moving to North London on Thursday, so Hampstead Heath will become our local.

Yasmin and I headed out together and then regrouped for the last little bit after I had finished a good hard chunk of tempo around Dulwich Park and finishing at the top of the Brockwell Park hill. A good run in cracking weather.

Rest

Rest

Yes, a planned rest day!

A Romford run (or two)

22M double; recovery run & medium long run
7M am recovery run at ~7.15min/M with pack
15M pm medium long run at ~6.15-6.30min/M with pack

It was pretty nippy out today. Definitely woolly hat running weather. It was miserable and wet on my morning trudge to Liverpool Street. Not what I wanted at six something in the morning with a full day ahead of me.

But the way back from Romford was much better. Clear skies. Plenty of Christmas trees to count. And my legs felt good. One of my better Romford runs. I made my way all the way in to Holborn.

Less than planned

11M double; recovery run x2
5.5M am recovery run at ~8.00min/M
5.5M pm recovery run at ~7.00min/M

Work etc conspired (again) to limit me to a couple of shorties today. Romford tomorrow. So that will mean more miles.

Two mile reps - cos I was jealous

14M double; recovery run & 2 mile rep session
6M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack
8M pm incl 3x 2M reps at ~5.00min/M off 2min jog

I missed out on a two mile rep session down at the track last night. To overcome my jealousy, I ran the same session up and down the North bank between Blackfriars and Westminster. It was a cracker. I was spent after each one. Lungs burning. Pedestrians looked a bit bemused at times.

Refuelled with Yasmin in Holborn.

Just 5

5M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack

Kept it short and simple. No time for a second run today.

Easy - after two hard days

14M double; recovery runs x2
5.5M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M with pack
8.5M pm recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack

I took it easy today. The last two days have been HARD. My legs are not broken. And aren't even that tired, surprisingly. But they are a bit achy (in a good way). My calves are fine other than a slight ache on the right. But it's in keeping with my other aches, rather than the gripey niggles I had earlier in the year.

Summary of week ending 11/12/2011

Mon 5/12 - 14M double; 6M recovery & 8M general aerobic runs
Tue 6/12 - 17M double; 6M recov & 11M incl 2K-1M-1.2K-0.5M-0.25M session
Wed 7/12 - 12M double; 2x 6M recovery runs
Thu 8/12 - 11M double; 6M recov & 5M inc 3x2K off 90s
Fri 9/12 - 10M recovery run
Sat 10/12 - 21M double; 6M recov & 15M med-long tempo-ish run
Sun 11/12 - 18M crescendo long run
TOTAL - 103M

A flyer

18M crescendo long run building to marathon pace

I thought I might have to take my long run a bit easy after yesterday's efforts. I delayed the run until the evening to give me maximum recovery. As soon as I was out of the door, I realised I was on for a good one. It was another of my central London sightseeing affairs. I slowly built the pace. My legs felt amazing. The limiting factor was my breathing if anything. Though it all felt pretty good. By the end I was flying. I didn't time it properly, but I was going well under 5.30 pace by the end. A cracking end to the week.

Full of beans

21M double; recovery run & medium long run
6M am recovery run at ~6.30min/M
15M pm medium long run at ~5.45min/M

I was full of energy today and ran the sessions I was planning yesterday. I ran back to Brixton from Dartmouth Park via various London sights - the Heath, Primrose Hill, Regents Park, Marble Arch, Hyde Park, and then along some of my usual parts of the river. It was 15 miles and I ran it just pushing a little bit. Up on my toes but not putting too much energy in. It came out at 5.45min/M. Not bad for the level of effort.

Just 10

10M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M with pack

Just 10 this morning. No time for a run in the evening, so I'll run twice tomorrow.

Speed

11M double; recovery run and speed session
6M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack
5M pm incl 3x2K off 90s jog with pack

Another jam-packed day at work. Just enough time on my way home to really nail some 2K reps. I ran them as 6min10s efforts (rather than on my GPS). My legs are pleasingly painful now.

Some recovery

12M double; recovery run & gen aerobic run
5M am recovery run at ~8.15min/M with pack
7M pm general aerobic run at ~6.00min/M

Another crazily busy day. A good one workwise. But not great for fitting in the miles. My evening run was shorter than I had wanted. But it was a filler day, not a session day. That's tomorrow.

A sharp session on the Northbank

17M double; recovery run and speed session
6M am recovery run at ~6.45 min/M (with pack)
11M pm incl 2K, 1M, 1.2K, 800m & 400m off 2, 2, 1.5 & 1min jog

A solid day despite lots of work, an appointment with the estate agent and dinner out. My evening session was a real cracker. I had to fit it in between work, a visit to Kentish Town and dinner in Stockwell. So I ran it along the North bank between Blackfriars and Wenstminster. It was a repeat of last Tuesday's track session. Other than that I ran it on time (eg 6min30s hard rather than 2K). I had my pack, so it wasn't perfect. But I felt really good - pretty much as good as last time.

Fairly simple

14M double; recovery run & general aerobic run
6M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M (with pack)
8M pm general aerobic run at ~6.15min/M (with pack)

I've had to rejig my week again. Various reasons. Including some house-moving-related shenanigans. All worth the hassle though... we're moving North (within London). Before Xmas.

Anyway, I kept it fairly simple today as a result. Two runs. Neither v hard. Looking forward to some good sessions that Ron has lined up for me this week.

Summary of week ending 04/12/2011

Mon 28/11 - 17M double; 7M & 10M recovery runs
Tue 29/11 - 15M double; 7M recov & 8M incl 2K-1M-1.2K-0.5M-400 session
Wed 30/11 - 14M double; 7M recovery runs x2
Thu 01/12 - 14M double; 7M recovery runs x2
Fri 02/12 - 13M double; 5M & 8M recovery runs
Sat 03/12 - 8M recovery run
Sun 04/12 - 22M double; 2M recov & 20M crescendo run
TOTAL - 105M

Long - back on the program

22M double; very short recovery run & long run
2M am recovery run at ~8.15min/M
20M pm crescendo long run

I'm back on track now. I was probably more careful than I needed to be, but I only ended up missing one proper session. So I'm not displeased with the outcome.

I went for a very short one around Brockwell Park with Yasmin first thing. Just enough to stretch the legs. But not more.

I saved my long run for the evening - fitted better with all of the 100s of moving house-related things that seem to be mounting up. It was a goody. To Battersea, around the park, along the river to Blackfriars. A loop around Buckingham Palace and Whitehall. That sort of thing.

I started slow and built the speed. Not an all out effort. But a good smooth crescendo.

My legs were ok by the end, but I'm descending into one of my post-long run stupors now. Pity I've got work to do.

Still taking it easy

8M pm recovery run at ~7.00min/M

One last day of taking it gently. Virus not gone. But on the way out. Today's was a post-dinner outing. Home from Liverpool Street plus a bit. My stomach wasn't impressed with the idea of running straight after the fine food we had just consumed at St John Bread and Wine.

Still taking it easy

13M double; recovery runs x2
5M am recovery run at ~8.30min/M with pack
8M pm recovery run at ~6.30min/M

Still viral. Not up to a proper session. Just enough to keep me ticking over (and to avoid the tube to and from work).

A bit viral

14M double; recovery run x2
7M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M
7M pm recovery run at ~6.45min/M

I'm a bit viral. So I kept it shortish and easy today.