I haven’t been running much lately. I did a bit just before competing in a Triathlon back in May, but very little since. However, I can’t swim at the moment thanks to injured ribs, so last night rather than drive into Aberystwyth just for a circuit training session I decided to go for a run instead.
I did a course I;ve done a few times before. From home, I ran south along the beach (if its high tide I go along the golf course instead) and then up over the pebbles just before getting into Borth, across the golf course and level crossing and then along the track past the Bird hide. At the Leri I turn left and run north along the grassy embankment besides the River Leri then across the railway bridge, back to the boat yard, down the track besides the boatyard and out onto the sands of the estuary. I then run along the side of the dunes to the road and back home along the road past Searivers Caravan Park.
It’s a 4.8 mile run, although last night I overshot a little on the beach and it was 4.9 miles. Despite running a slightly longer distance, I actually beat my previous best time by almost 2 minutes! So that’s it, the best way for me to improve my running is to not do any! It may have something to do with the fact that I was listening to a ‘podrunner’ music mix on my iPod rather than a podcast. Podrunner are free exercise music mixes by DJ Steve Boyett for runners offering nonstop, fixed-tempo music for training. Last night ‘mix’ was called “Ballistic” and was at 149bpm. It certainly seemed to take my mind off the pain and keep me going.
Although, to be honest, looking back through the past times I’ve ran that course I’ve been getting faster and faset anyway:
- 20th March – 40:47
- 15th April – 39:14
- 26th April – 38:54
- 7th May – 37:30
- 3rd August – 35:34
I’m quite pleased with last nights time, not bad for an old man who doesn’t really run! My calves are pretty sore this morning though and walking around the house isn’t as easy as it usually is!
I thought getting fit was supposed to be good for you, but it only seems to hurt!
Running on the roads hurts my knees, running on the sand hurts my Achilles tendons.
I went for a nice run yesterday along the beach. Nothing too strenuous as I was trying to keep my heart rate down so my pace was a really slow 9 minutes per mile and I only ran 5 miles. The tide was low so the GPS generated map (left) made it look as though I was swimming rather than running, (in which case 9 mins/mile would have been good!) All felt good though and I enjoyed the run itself, but as soon as I stopped I developed a pain in my groin… Seems as though I now have some sort of groin strain which has now prevented me from going windsurfing today, depsite the fact that there has been a perfect wind all day and the sun has been shining.
On top of this, the running has caused chaffing in places you don’t want to know about and I even have a mild case of runners nipple! I think I shall have a few days off before doing some nice easy short runs again.
I haven’t lost any weight either as it makes me hungry and there’s nothing better than a BIG bar of chocolate after a physical workout!
It isn’t all bad though as I’ve been enjoying it and I think the fresh air each day does me good, and those endorphins must be having an effect on my overall sense of well-being.
