Training Run 73

Tonight's training session was gruelling.  Manu lead it and she always works us hard!  Tonight we were practicing running uphill again, but interval sessions this time and we were working in pairs.  While I ran up and down the hill in a pyramid set of one short, one long and one short up and back run, my partner Blake undertook various exercises, including squats and spotty dogs, and then we would switch over.  We did six sets of this and I was absolutely exhausted at the end, though I noticed that my cardio was keeping up with the exercise even when my body had nothing left.  I have definitely improved my cardio capacity over the last year and I am really pleased with myself.  I know that at the beginning of the year I simply wouldn't have been able to complete tonight's session.  Thanks to everyone at the club who has helped me get to this level!

Training Run 72 - 5.6 miles, 9.01 km, 45'23''

Tonight I did a shorter version of my usual Monday run, along the South Bank to the peace pagoda in Battersea Park and then back again.  December is a bad month for training, I have eaten and drunk too many good things and this has made me feel sluggish and unhealthy.  Tonight's run was tough but I am glad I did it, as I want to keep my running ticking over, at least for now; I suspect that there won't be much running going during the last two weeks of the year!

Training Run 71 - 4.26 miles / 6.85 km, 33'52''

Today is the day of the Frontrunners Christmas party, so later on we will all be going out, eating and drinking a lot and generally having a good time.  This morning I ran with the guys once around Hyde Park - I didn't want to do anything too strenuous today.  It was good to get out in the fresh morning air and just run as fast as I could at times, it really blew all the cobwebs away.  My body felt ok and I didn't have any of the niggly aches or pains that I have suffered from during the last year.

Training Run 70

Wednesday night means training, but tonight's session was impromptu as the person who was supposed to be leading the session did not turn up!  So we ran around Primrose Hill in loops for exactly 30 minutes, doing some parts fast and other parts at jogging pace, in order to teach us how to better maintain stamina over long periods.  It felt like very hard work (all those Christmas drinks and chocolates are beginning to tell!) but at the end I knew I had done something tough and been able to get through it.

Training Run 69 - 7 miles / 11.27 km, 58'37''

I ran my usual Monday evening run, along the South Bank, around Battersea Park and back again.  I suspect this may be one of the last times I do this run in 2015, what with Christmas coming up.  Tonight's run was good, I ran alone and enjoyed the speed and solitude after how busy everything has been lately.

Training Run 68

After last week's uphill session, tonight we practiced running down!  This is not as foolish as it sounds - running down hill without a good technique is a sure-fire way to injure yourself (so I am told), so it was good that Steven was showing us how to improve our technique when tackling down hill sections.  This involved us jogging up to the top of Primrose Hill (quite a feat in itself but worth it for the amazing view at the top) and then running down at different speeds.  We tried running really fast with very small paces (extremely hard for me and not very effective), then running slower but with huge bounding paces (very painful on the feet and I felt like I was going to crash any minute).  Finding something somewhere between the two was the key, as you can use the downhill section to maintain your speed, but making your paces larger and less frequent gives you a chance to recover, ready for the next uphill section.  After practicing this several times, I can't say that my technique is perfect, but it definitely felt better than it was before we started and now I know what I need to do in order to practice this myself in the future.