Training Run 50

I trained tonight with the Frontrunners as usual.  I made friends with two new people, Alice and Simon, and enjoyed their company as we ran in a group around Regent's Park with some others.  I hadn't done that route for a while and kept missing where I was supposed to go!  My knee still ached a little bit.

Training Run 49 - 7 miles / 11.27 km, 59'33''

We ran around Battersea Park in the drizzle this evening, the first time that it has rained during a training session that I have been to in quite some time.  I initially ran with Rich and Lucio although in the end I took it slower when returning to the gym because my knee was feeling tender.  I will need to keep up with the strengthening exercises from now on in order to prevent any recurrence of the knee pain I had in my last half-marathon.  

Training Run 48 - 7 miles / 11.27 km, 59'37''

This was a fairly standard Monday evening run.  Kieran and I saw Dominic Cooper in the park with a film crew, which helped to raise our pulses a bit!  My knee didn't play up, and everything felt fine when I reached the end, which was good.

Pride Run 10k 2015 - 6.21 miles / 10km, 46'45''

After a few wet and rainy days, this Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny.  I made my way on the Overground to Victoria Park for the annual Pride 10k, organised by my running club, the London Frontrunners; a race that is always sociable, friendly and fun to run and which raises money for LGBT-related charities.

This was the third year that I had entered the race and I didn't really know what to expect in terms of time.  I hadn't run the 10k distance since running the same race the previous year and I had undertaken quite a bit of training since then so I was hoping that I would be able to improve on my time.  I met with my friends Stephen and Chris who were also running the race and we all queued up at the start line, enjoying that rush of excitement that you feel at the beginning of every race.  James Wharton started the race and we were off, taking in three laps of the park.

I had been worried about my knees prior to the race, as my right one in particular had been a bit achey when running ever since the half-marathon that I ran in July.  I did lots of stretches before the start and as we got going I focused on getting the early kilometers done.  I completed the first 5k in 23 minutes, which seemed fast to me and I thought I wouldn't be able to maintain that pace.  Around about 6.5km I started developing a stitch but I didn't want that to hamper my progress so I tried to maintain the pace and ignore the discomfort.  I was really enjoying running in what I think is one of London's most beautiful parks in delicate warm sunshine.

The second half felt tough, and by lap three I felt as though I was going really slowly, especially along the long straight part around the park of the park.  I did still have something left in the tank however as I managed a sprint finish on the last 200m or so, ending up finishing with a time of 46 minutes and 45 seconds.  Not only was this the first 10k that I had completed in under 50 minutes (thereby smashing my previous personal best), I also completed both halves in a consistent 23 minutes, which suggested that I kept a steady pace throughout (apart from the speedy burst at the end).

The Pride Run 10k is always well organised and we were well supplied with bananas and bagels filled with cream cheese for munching after the run, as well as free wine and other goodies.  We joined the other runners in the pub afterwards for a barbecue, where the prizes were also given out.  We all drank a toast to Nikki Grace Bovine, one of our members who had sadly passed away the previous weekend; I was wearing a headband that day in memory of her as were a number of others who ran the race.  Running may seem like a solitary sport at times but it is the friends that you make along the way who really make it what it is, people like Nikki.  I will miss her but I know we were all enriched for having known her and I know she would have enjoyed today if she had been here.

Self-Transcendence 3x1 mile relay - 1 mile / 1.61 km, 6'16'' (team time 18'30'')

This was the second and last of the relay races that I signed up for with the Frontrunners.  These races involved competitors taking part as a team of three, with each member running a one mile lap around an area of Battersea Park.  On this occasion I was on a team with Simon, who I had been team-mates with last time, along with Christian who made our trio.

I found this race to be just as tough as the first one (though without the slight knee pain that I experienced last time), but I improved on my previous time by four seconds and our team time was a full 17 seconds faster, which was very pleasing.  Our men's A team came third overall so they won medals!  It has been nice to try something a bit different, I think I would like to do more of these types of races again in the future.

Training Run 47 - 5.65 miles / 9.1 km, 46'37''

After having taken a break from running for a few days, due to the pain that I had been feeling in my knee, I returned to the Frontrunners this evening.  Normally I would join in the coaching session on a Wednesday night but this time I wanted to take it easy, so I ran one lap around Regent's Park at my own pace, making sure not to overdo it too much.  It was a pleasant evening, though very quiet - presumably the Tube strike had frightened a lot of the usual park users away.  My knee felt fine - I took great care to stretch properly before the run and to warm down afterwards, so as to give me the best possible chance of avoiding any difficulties later.