Longest to date

Tuesday and I missed a few days postings, although not a huge amount to report until today. On Saturday I managed a short time trial on the treadmill, working on the tempo build up of pace that I have been doing over the slightly longer runs (I find it hard to call 4 or 5 Km a "Long Run"), ending up running at a pace of 5 minutes per Kilometre for the second of a 2 Km run, having started at 5:45.

Sunday saw my regular fortnightly Hash, and although I covered the distance, as we had a visitor from Australia in town, who wanted to walk the trail, and no walkers out as it was Easter Sunday, I walked most of the trail with her, so she wouldn't get lost in a strange city. So, to be fair, I can't really claim much of a run on Sunday, which was a shame as I was feeling good, and the weather was excellent for running.

Mondays are awkward for me, as I have classes all day at odd times, not really leaving much of a window for runnning. Under normal circumstances, with a decent run on a Sunday, Monday can fit nicely as a rest day, but aside from being a weigh-in day, it didn't see any running.

BUT - I made up for it today, as I went for a walk this morning, on a beautiful autumnal day, with the temperatures climbing into the low 20's, and not a cloud in the sky. I finally walked to the parque at Villa Dominico, 3 Km from the house, then walked around the parque to get a feel for how far it is (approx 1.25Km around), and walked home. After a class in the afternoon, once the temperatures had dropped a little, I decided to run the same route, and it was great to get around this route, which finally gives me some off-road running, albeit after a 3Km warm up to get there. I ran the whole route, out and back, with a loop of the parque, for a run of around 7.25 Km, and inside 40 minutes as well. I felt strong at the end, and actually felt I was kicking a little over the last couple of blocks to home - Maybe the tempo runs are starting to have some affect.

One thing I forgot to mention - Weigh-In yesterday, and Yes, another Kilo disappeared - down to 88 Kilos now - Well on target, and feeling better and better...

I attach a picture from November last year, and you can spot the belly!!! - Pleased to report that this is one area that the weight loss has been especially focusing on.

Two days in a row!

Today here it is a Holiday for Holy Week (as is tomorrow), so no work, although the gym was open, and as they have opened a new sauna up this week, I thought that it would be good to try a consecutive day run, especially as I wasn't too happy about yesterdays effort, and conclude the session with a sauna.

I had no preconceived session in mind, but started out at 10.6kph and ran a tempo run of 5Km notching up a click each Km. Felt really good today, unlike yesterday, and eased through the run to complete 5Km in 27:28, at an average pace of under 5:30. OK, it isn't fast, in fact it's the slowest I have run a 5K on the treadmill, but as I am not worried about things like that, I was happy to see, and feel, the progress over the last few weeks. This was my first attempt at two in a row for a while, and whilst they were not hard runs, they show great signs of better things to come.

I have a goal in mind of the 10Km in Banbridge on May 25th, although I will not make a prediction yet, except to be under the hour that I crawled around last year. Five weeks to go to the race, time will tell.....

Hump Day and The Treadmill

The weather has sure changed here this week, with Autumnal Storms having kicked in. I was awoken at 4 this morning with Thunderclaps that shook the house (at least that is how they felt), and rain bouncing around outside. Thankfully it had stopped by the time I got up, but the skies were as dark at 9 than they would be at 7 other days. Heavily leadend with rain, and so, I decided to head to the gym and the Treadmill.

Many years ago, back in the 1990's, when I was almost a decent runner, I used to do a lot of training on the Treadmill, due to long working hours, and living in the countryside where there were few street lights for winter running Monday to Friday. I actually used to enjoy the regular runs, switching from Interval Training, to Tempo Runs, even enjoying (if that is the right word) the long runs of 10 miles plus on the machines. Mind you, I was running at under 7 minute mile pace in those days, even kicking out sub 6 minute Mile Intervals at times.

These days, it's a different story. Obviously age has caught up with me a little, :) but I still feel frustrated I can't bang out a 5 Mile treadmill run in under 35 minutes (I haven't done that since 2001!). To be honest I haven't run under 39 minutes since 2006, not that I run on Treadmills quite as much now, but my On-Line Running Diary shows my runs over the years, and I can see at a glance how slow I have become.

But today, I was looking at only 4 km, and a Tempo run, starting at the sedate pace of 10.5kph, roughly a tad over 9 minute pace per mile, and notching things up a click every 500m. The first couple of kilometres were easy enough, but the last 500m was actually a stuggle, and relistically it wasn't that fast that it should have been, so I was disappointed to clock 22:12 for the 4km, feeling deflated at the slow time, given how I was feeling.

Maybe it's simply because it's Hump day, and I was feeling the hump!, let's hope, as I have been feeling good for the last few weeks, genuinely feeling that progress was being made. I'll just have to keep working at it, and work a little harder to get the times down, and the distance longer, and maybe not feel quite as crap at the end. We'll see....

Slipping Up on Posting

Naughty me, or was it busy me, but I missed a few days of postings, but glad to report that I have been running, amongst the busy times.

Teaching is taking up a lot of time for me, and I will never again state that Teachers have an easy life with all those holidays (although I do like them!), and finishing work at 3 pm etc... In my relatively short "career" as a teacher, I am finding out how much time goes into preparation of classes. One on one students are hard enough to prepare for, but when it comes to setting up a 2 hour class for my teenage First Certificate in English Class, it can take 5 hours a week to prepare for the one class! getting the materials together, preparing handouts, designing the class to keep their attention, and then assessing how it went afterwards - Much as I love the teaching, I think I would have burnt out long ago if I had decided on this path from school - And these are all students who want to learn - So hats off to all those who are teachers in the "Real world".

Anyway, back to running, and I am still operating on my alternate days strategy as I rebuild, and it seems to be working. On Friday, I decided to head to the gym, and did a range of exercises, including some good stretching. I am still feeling a soreness (can't really explain it much better) in my right hip, upper thigh, and whilst not stopping me run at all, or impede my movements, I am still keeping an eye on it, and will head to the physio when I am home next month. After my warm ups, i went for a treadmill run. It was only a short one of 2Km, but at under 11 minutes, it was quite sharp, and, I have to confess, not as easy as I expected at that pace, but I was reasonably happy at the progress, and went out of Friday night, Frinking with a spring in my step.

Saturday was one of those alternate days with no runs, and on Sunday morning I was out on a cool damp morning, after a heavy rainstorm overnight had lowered the temperatures to something more akin to a Dublin day in October. I ran my 5.8 Km run that I have started to use as a measuring stick, and again, iI didn't feel I was trying hard, simply running smoothly, and with light traffic resulting in no junction delays, I completed the course almost a minute faster than previously. For those concerned about running to the clock, I am not clock watching, just using the results to gauge the improvements. Realistically, I should be running this course in around 27 minutes, and when I do, I know I will be capable of running under 50 minutes for 10 km - Still a long way to go.... Sundays was 30:31...

Monday was an alternate day, spent preparing classes for the week, and teaching, but it also involved my weekly weight in - And I can report more success, as I dropped another kilo, down to 89 Kgs, 196 lbs, which is a little milestone in iself, as under Imperial Weight that is the 14 stone mark. I am well on target for my goal of 176 lbs by the end of June, and exactly half way from the starting point of 216 lbs back in February - So, whilst my speed may seem slow when I'm running, the weight loss is continuing at a great pace.

Next run will be later today after my classes, so hopefully I can get another good run in amd start to maybe add an extra run a week in as the build up continues.

Over the Hump

Monday was a planned rest day, but Tuesday wasn't, and I have to confess to be a little lazy yesterday. I had intended a run in teh early evening, after teaching a couple of classes in the afternoon, but when I got home, I sat down, started to watch football (the mid-week European evening games are on around 4 pm here), and by the time they had finished it had started to go dark, so I chickened out of a run.

So, today I wasn't going to be a wimp. The temperatures were hanging around the high 20's all day (80's to US readers), and getting home in the early afternoon, I wasn't going to head out in that heat. Those temps are high for mid-April here, as we should be cooling down as autumn is 1/3 rd in already here. So, i waited until the sun was at least heading down, and at 6 I laced up, and out I went for a steady run along a familiar route just short of 6 Km. The traffic was heavier than usual, given the time of day, and I got held up at a few junctions as this is very much an urban run, but I still managed to run around the same time as the last Sunday morning run over this route, and I felt I was only jogging, so all going well.

Looking at the race calendar for the next few months, and not sure when I will run my first race of this new birth, but it should be in teh next month or so, just to test out the legs over a race condition, not that I will be truly racing. One race I do hope to do is the Bann 10K, back home in Banbridge, which takes place the day I arrive home for the imminent arrival of my first granchild. There aren't many races around Banbridge, and I ran this one last year, and made a pigs ear of it, so I have some revenge to get on the course. Last year, I ran or more like ran a bit, walked a bit, in over the hour - OUCH!!! I will get my own back.....

Over the Cold

As Theia mentioned, an update is required on my cold and what's happening. Well, I'm glad to report that I have just about got rid of the cold and chest infection which laid me low last week. Suffice to say I didn't get any running done while I was ill. If it had just been a head cold I would have run through it, but the coughing and chest problems made me stay off the road, and I'm glad i did.

However, I did manage to run yesterday, Sunday. And it was one heck of a run. As you know, I hash with the Buenos Aires Hash House Harriers, and yesterday, we joined forces with our colleagues in the Uruguay Hash, and held the First Hash del Rio Plata, in Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay. It was an early morning call, and the boat across the River Plate to Colonia, meeting up with friendly hashers from BA on the boat, and arriving nice and early for the hash, with the sun sitting high in the sky, and a beautiful warm autumn day was at hand fo rthis inaugral run.

All in all there were around 50 people out for the run, and the hares did us proud as they took the run across beaches, through the river, up a hillside (and back down again), through the old town of Colonia itself, with cries of On On getting strange looks from the tourists wondering what was happening. We clambered over rocks, slid down grassy banks, got wet, ran on the beach and finally got back to the starting point, with a run of around 12 kilometres under our belts. My legs certainly feel the run today, and yesterday I confess to feeling tight on the chest as the last remnants of the infection hung around. BUT, I am back running after the little illness break, and promise more details as I progress.

I did get on the scales this morning, and unsurprisingly as I took no exercise, my weight has remained at the 90 Kilo mark this week, but I am happy enough with that, knowing that I will be back upping the miles (or should I say Kilometres), as this week progresses.

Stinky Cold !!!

Just as I started to get going again, I come down with a damn cold. The only thing running at the moment is my nose! Nasty little cough to go with it too - And being a guy, naturally I feel like crap - lousy patient!

On the plus side - At my Monday weigh in, I clocked 90 Kg, which takes me under the magic 200 lbs figure :). Hopefully I can get back running before the weekend, and keep up the good work.

April arrives, and no fooling!

Where is the year going, that's a quarter gone already, summer has turned to autumn, and next month I will be heading home to welcome the arrival of my first grand-child. In the meantime, April fools day came and went, along with an excellent evening on Friday at a new Frinking venue, Treffen, which is not only a bar, but also a beer museum, and serves some excellent artesnal beers, although I was good and limited my consumption to a few pints. Whilst the doctor did tell me that beer isn't the worst thing I can take with the gout, he did suggest limiting to only once a week, and so far I have been a good boy! (Well, OK, three times a fortnight isn't too bad, is it?).

I had planned to go to the gym on Saturday for a timed workout, but once again, it was a holiday here. Yet another feriado, this one being "el dia del veterano y caidos en malvinas", 29 years since the invasion of the islands commenced, back in 1982. It meant the gym was closed, and instead, I watched football - which I wish I hadn't, seeing as all three of the teams I follow lost! In the end I didn't get a run in, but I would on Sunday.

And I did!

The weather has changed a little in the last few days, and this morning the skies were leaden as I put on my shorts. I wanted to extend the distance a little more, as I had set myself a goal of 5 Km by this weekend, and I planned a run to the park at Villa Dominico, which I have run before, a year or so back!. Naturally, before I went 200m the heavens opened, and a cool rain began to fall. Clearly being from Ireland, running in the rain is something I am used to, so it was not a bother, and I eased along at a slow pace, enjoying the quiet Sunday roads.

Still feeling the discomfort in the right hip/top of leg,(I must look up the name of this muscle group!), and keeping a careful eye on it while I run. It isn't hindering my running at all, at least not at the pace I am presently running at, but something I am aware of, and need to be wary of as I extend the distances, and hopefully, begin to pick up the pace.

A long post today, but the run was uneventful on the way back from the park entrance. I didn't go into the park today, but that will be a feature soon, I hope. The rain had stopped, and I was feeling tired as I passed 25 minutes running, but I plodded on to the house, and completed the run of 5.75 Km (according to gmaps) in 31:27, a pace of around 5:30 per Km, still very slow, but speed is something to worry about in a couple of months. At the moment I'm hoping to build over this month, so I can be running 10 Km comfortably by the beginning of May - We shall see..