Sub 21 min 5k
Finally a day to catch up with my huge list of ‘to do’ items. I set up this blog with the intention of regular updates from the world of physio and my life. As always though the best laid plans go out the window. This is actually a good thing as the clinic has been super busy for the last 2 weeks which does mean that all my other jobs take a back burner.
The last few weeks have also been really good from a training point of view. Last weekend I smashed my 5k PB by 32 seconds at Beeston Park Run so I was pretty chuffed with that. I reckon my new leggings helped(sturdy by design). I have been working hard to get faster, sessions involving lots of intervals and hills plus regular weights have really helped my leg strength.
I also knocked nearly 3 mins off my 2016 time for the first summer league race at Teversal. It was such a great start to the year of racing as my Running club ‘Kimberley & District Striders‘ (KADS) have gone from strength to strength and we were represented by 47 runners. I’m running quicker than I ever have and with just a bit more experience at racing and confidence to push myself a little more at the start I’m hoping to have a good year. Running with a club is a great way to improve your running- we meet on a Wednesday at Kimberley Leisure Centre at 7pm.
I often get asked if I follow a training programme but I make my own and try to follow it whilst being flexible. I’m lucky enough to be my own boss so this does make it easier to move things around to accomodate training. I first followed a training programme whilst training for Rat Race’s ‘The Wall’ and really liked the fact that it was set over two weeks so I didn’t feel I was struggling to fit everything into one week. I still like to have that flexibility of setting out training over two weeks. I do my speed sessions on a Monday evening and have loved seeing my times improve. Even if I have done long runs at the weekend I still try to keep this session as pushing on tired legs teaches you to dig in when you need to. Tuesday and Thursday I go to the gym and work on the free weights to improve strength and power. My S&C course has been great for learning about the basics of building an S&C programme and I can’t stress enough the benefits to be gained for runners from adding in S&C to their training. I’ll do a bit more about S&C for runners in later blog
Wednesday nights is KADS night so I tend to do 5-7 miles at tempo. This usually requires keeping up with some of the quicker runners but the only way you’ll get faster is to push yourself. Thursday morning I often just run with friends, this is a nice steady chatty run usually of about 4 miles. Friday I do a circuits class or, as we have more races through the summer the Thursday gym session may swap to the Friday. Saturday I tend to do Park Run and recently have been running to wherever we’re going. As I up my distances ready for August these runs will become longer but with the aim to still be to do a fast ‘ish’3 miles to finish. Sunday is LR day and at the moment that is only about 8-10 miles but this will increase over the summer. My main goal this year is a 3 day event, covering 135 miles so a lot of my training will involve practicing nutrition and refuelling. I’m more than confident of my ability to run for 5-6 hours but I want to feel strong whilst I’m running. I’ve made lots of mistakes in the past with diet and nutrition whilst training so have really been focusing on this element.
My next race is Longhorn HM at the end of April. I’ve never really raced a HM so am keen to see how I fare with a bit of speed and distance. Those who know me though will know I can get lost on a canal so my main goal is to get round without adding extra miles. The medal looks fantastic and there are lots of local runners taking part so hopefully see some of you there.
Hopefully as I find my feet with this blogging malarkey I can cover some physio topics but in the mean time if there is anything you want me to chat about please get in touch via the comments below.