Tweak!

I felt a bit lifeless last weekend, not sure why but got a couple of easy rides in. One short MTB ride with new front brake pads that were binding hard and had to be worn in. Did I moan? Nope, just treated it as extra resistance (could have done without the slipping seat post though), it needed to be done. The wheel was spinning much better by the end.

Monday, I was much more lively and got some 800m intervals out. I managed to pick the wrong direction and run them straight into a strong wind which meant the pace was well off but the effort level was there.

Tuesday was a good ride to work, really enjoyed both journeys though had to tell Jez to go off on his own after about a mile in the morning as there was no way I was going to keep up with him on his road bike when I was on the shopping bike.

Wednesday was a rest day due to neither of us getting home from work early enough to contemplate riding anywhere. Thursday was an interval session on the turbo where I attempted to boil my head again and nearly succeeded...thinking of moving it outside onto the patio to entertain the neighbours.

Friday was a run but with no plan, just for fun so headed to the beach to play in the dunes. The sun was out over Blackpool:

The sand was dry and really loose and after clambering up the third steep dune I thought maybe I shouldn't be hammering my calves and achilles like this as I had said I would turn up at the XC on Saturday. My glutes were also notcieably tight from the turbo session the day before. Just around then my left leg slipped in the sand down and away from me with a tweak sensation in the bum. A definite ooof! moment. Not great timing.

Onto the flat beach and seems no harm done so head way out towards the sea faffing about taking some pictures as the cloud rolled in for some dramatic sky moments:

Had a bit of a run in the lower dunes which are a lot more packed down then I could feel things starting to niggle, bit of a stretch and head back to work with my left butt cheek and hip trying to cramp up completely. Oops, needless to say an afternoon sat down at a desk did nothing for it. I got into my car like a 90 year old.

Snowy Beach Run

Yesterday I hauled myself out of the door at lunchtime for a run after listening to the CBA demons on Thursday. My main excuses on Thursday were...sidestreets will be slippy to cross, might be ice patches, half cleared driveways, its baltic........

The Friday run had all of that but it wasn't too bad, it was a glorious, sunny and clear day. My car said -1 when setting off (out clearing the windscreen after the washers had defrosted) but the lack of wind stopped it from feeling too bitter.

It was a bit slidy in places on the way down to the beach but I ran on the shady side of the street and mostly it was fine just taking it really easy. I was curious to see what the beach would be like but I didn't quite expect this:

Snow covered beach! It was also really busy, all those people not able to get to work..

I was almost late back to work, 7 miles at a slow 10mm but not too much slower really.

New Year Running

After the icy ride/walk of New Year's day I've not been on two wheels since. Which is a bit of a pain as the events I have entered so far are quite bike orientated (been looking at Turbo Trainers, shhh). I have run the last four days though, I don't normally do consecutive running days and definitely not on tarmace but hey ho needs must.

The first run of the year was a local loop on Saturday afternoon with a surprising amount of ice around. Initial plan was to do an easy four or five miles but in the end I was enjoying it so much I ended up doing 7.75, I only headed home as I could feel the temperature really starting to plummet.

Sunday was another local loop, even more patches of ice to dodge but I kept it to a nice easy 3.5 miles. Legs felt better than they had the day before though a little grouchy at the tarmac.

Monday I ran at lunchtime, it was a stunning day even if it had been -5 when I arrived at work. It was really cold but there was no real ice in St Annes just a very hard frost which was fine to run on. My original plan was to do some fartleks to start getting some hard work introduced again but it was so cold my quads wouldn't seem to warm up.

I decided to keep it steady but thought I was actually being a bit of a wuss. The tarmac was feeling a bit harsh so I had hoped to get some running in on the beach but the tide was in. Arriving near Fairhaven Lake I realised that the sea was slush! Near the beach it was one giant, brown slush puppy. If the sea is like that then it is way too cold, I didn't feel like such a wuss after all. I was a bit gutted I hadn't brought my camera, I've not seen anything like it.

I was so fascinated by it I ran all they way up to St Annes Pier and ended up with 7.25 miles which I thought wasn't too bad on cold and unwilling legs.

Today was supposed to be a rest day but the snow conditions meant I worked from home today and just had to get out in it while it was soft and powdery. Original plan was for a mile or two on the local pavements. I ended up doing 6.18 miles I was enjoying myself so much, I had thought about heading out on the bike but by the time I faffed it wouldn't have been much point as I was actually still working.

My Mizuno Harriers were great in the soft snow, crossing side streets was treacherous but other than that it was fine. Definite rest day required tomorrow but it'll probably all be ice by then anyway.

That inbetween stage...

of getting over whatever had infected me but not quite sure if its entirely gone. A very easy 4 mile run yesterday, felt great after and enjoyed the run. I kept my layers zipped up to keep the cold off my chest as much as possible even if I was a little warm.

7 slightly less easy miles, still all zipped up, feel slightly less fine this evening. I hate germs!

Jez is also ill too, enough to take a day off work which is exceptionally rare, though his appears to be gastric related rather than tight chest. Watch this space as I'll probably get it next.

OMG How Cold?!

Breathtakingly cold today out on the prom, literally. I headed down there not sure if I was going to do the intervals I had planned or not, so cold and the wind was just biting and stronger than I was expecting!

I had on fleecy tights, thermal undershorts, thermal top, Oz Pullover zipped almost right up, gloves (ok thin ones) and a buff on. The top and the Oz have handwarmer style thumb loops to cover part of the hand, I never took my thumb out of those loops at all or really unzipped the jacket, even during the intervals I was that cold and I wished I'd put my windproof hat on.

Anyway, 2.2 mile "warm" up, 6 x 800 metres done (was supposed to be 5 but I obviously set it up wrong), wind assisted which made me set off far too fast every single time but I still found the pace hard to maintain as I think my legs were just cold and clumsy. Then back to work, still haven't warmed up properly.

It was probably good for me after the written off weekend....

A lunchtime run in glorious sunshine.

Yesterday I headed out at lunchtime for an interval session. Now, I moan that the prom is the only place in St Annes to get some decent uninterrupted running and it is. There really isn't much else, getting to the prom is a big faff as St Annes is jam packed with houses so that you have to stop constantly to cross roads etc. I can find it hard to motivate myself to do the same old run, same old streets, even though it really is good to get out in the daylight over the winter months.


However, occasionally a gorgeous day comes along and I can't wait to get down there, yesterday was one of those days. I then realise that I am actually very lucky to be able to get the chance to run on the beach at luchtime, I love the feeling of wide open space.


I had an interval session planned, 2 sets of 5 x 400 metres, 1 minute recovery. Before that I took it steady to the beach, then faffed around a bit taking in the sunshine before getting to the hard work. I have a new ickle bumbag which is to carry, gloves, tissues, lip balm 20p for the loos etc but also fits my camera in. Some jogging about taking photos before heading up onto the prom itself for the intervals. Not surprisingly there was a lot of people around but it just seemed to add to the good vibe.






The intervals went well, I did them at the correct pace, 4 out of 5 of the first set were at 1.49, the other was 1.48. I did have a slight muppet moment in that I thought I had longer to rest between the sets than I did and set off on the first one of the second set 40 seconds late......


The next 4 were all around 1.49 too. Legs felt good and I could have done more. I then tootled along the bottom of the sea wall for ages before realising that it was 1:40 pm and I really should drag myself away and get back to work.



My legs felt good all the way back to work so I think last week's rest has done them some good after all.

A lunchtime run to the beach for an ice cream

Wanted to cycle in today but I have a chiro appointment at 6pm so I would never have enough time. I want to run tomorrow but felt like doing something today and decided on an easy run.

Sun was out and it was very warm setting off, when I got to the beach it was heaving around the prom so I ran on the sand facing the breeze. It was a bit of an adventure course trying not to fall down dug holes, trip over sandcastles and get hit by the myriad of balls flying around but it was great to see so many people out having fun.

After passing loads of people eating ice cream I decided it was only fair I had one and had luckily been to the cashpoint on the way. I nipped to one of the kiosks near the pier then I sat on the beach for ages eating ice cream and wishing I had a bucket and spade to play with like all the kids. There was something really satisfying about briefly escaping work to sit on the beach and eat ice cream.

The run back wasn't too bad either, thought I'd feel sick but no. Five, sunshiney and ice cream flavoured easy miles.

Thursday Club Run and a Friday Tempo Run

One thing I've just about had my fill of now is running on my own, it was necessary to get the miles done at the pace I needed to do them but after the 21 miler I am now verging on bored! It doesn't help that I've backed off the MTBing lately too as my legs have been battered from the running and Jez is away.

I was tidying up last week and found the cheque I wrote for my club fees in the bottom of a bag, I was supposed to hand that over at the last XC I did - in February, d'oh! So another reason to get down there.

It was a nice social paced run but my legs felt totally dead and heavy, hills felt difficult and odd so I'm going to have great fun once I start hilly offroad running again. I'll be building it back up almost from scratch again, sigh. I think it was just over 5 miles but being a muppet I forgot to start the Garmin for ages so just a guess.

Friday was supposed to be a tempo run, 1 mile easy then 5 miles at around 8:40 pace . It was windy and grey but actually good running temperature. I managed to dodge the showers. After the easy mile I set off too fast which I was surprised about as my legs just didn't feel like they belonged to me at all. I kept running too fast then it dawned on me that I was going to hit mile five as I was running through the centre of town, no chance of maintaining a consistent pace.

So I changed the plan to a four mile tempo which fitted in better with pace I was running at anyway, I worked hard on the last mile and had gotten progressively faster as the run went on:

8.33, 8.20, 8.12, 8.04

Which I was pleased about as I really felt like I was running with someone else's legs, I wouldn't have gotten that speed out of them the day before. However, once I gave my legs permission to slow down it was like they wanted to stop completely. They came back eventually after about 5 minutes of shuffling but it did show they are really still quite tired. It was a good plan not to try to run fast through town, all the biddies had decamped from the grey prom and were getting in my way in the town centre.

The plan was to rest on Saturday as the forecast looked better for Sunday then out for my long run, a nice "short" 13 miler. I couldn't believe I was regarding a 13 mile run as "short". Only two hours runnning instead three and a half!

Been Quiet...

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth but I ended up coming down with a heavy cold the Wednesday after my long run, boo hiss! I had a rest day after the long one, then another rest day on the Monday as I woke up with a really stiff hip - my own fault as I spent a lot of Sunday sitting on a hard chair, slouching, cross legged which is always really bad for my hip. I have an air cushion thingy I sit on at work to stop me from doing it and support my hip generally.

A day of stretching and it was fine on Tuesday. A colleague and I were discussing on Tuesday morning that we had both woken up a little sniffly but had dismissed it as hay fever/stuffy building as we felt ok. That would turn out to be an incorrect diagnosis! As I felt ok I set off for a hard interval session at lunchtime.

Planned session 2 sets of 4 x 400 m. Legs a little stiff setting off but soon were up for it. I set off way, way too fast for the first interval and it felt like my speed was yo-yoing all over the place. I contained myself a bit better for the remaining 3 in the first set. Rested then set off for the second just as fast (good thing I suppose). I was really enjoying myself but at the back of my mind I did know I was pushing too hard. The penultimate interval was the fastest, as often happens but I still felt ok on the very last one. A jog back to the office feeling pleased with myself.

I had thought the timings were all over the place but looking at the stats:

Set 1: 1.43, 1.42, 1.44, 1.43
Set 2: 1.44, 1.44, 1.39, 1.42

Due to a clogged up M6 on the Wednesday I ended up working from home, I was fine in the morning but by the afternoon I knew I was coming down with something. I pulled out of riding and rested but Thursday morning I could barely get out of bed. I would have stayed in bed if the bedroom telly hadn't been stolen but I took up residence on the sofa for the day watching rubbish.

Strangely, I wasn't panicking too much at that stage. I know if I have to take a day off work then I'm not going to have shaken the cold in a couple of days, I had done a good long run so just concentrate on getting better.

I had a short, easy MTB ride last Sunday morning as a tester, the cold was still with me a little but my heart rate was doing normal things. I was recovering well from effort and felt like I could've gone on and ridden more by the end but I was drowning in my own snot which made breathing difficult sometimes so I decided to have another couple of days off before resuming running again (still wasn't worried at that stage either).

Getting back on track

After all the drama at the weekend I finally got out for a good, stress busting run on Tuesday. I was too tired still on Monday after a couple of disturbed nights sleep after the break in. I headed down to the sea front for a good blast of sea air. It was reasonably windy but I decided to run into the wind and get the full force of the wind on my face.

It was overcast but after feeling cold setting off the temperature was just right, it felt invigorating to be running into the wind. I ran down towards Lytham, along the beach at times and at the lifeboat station I headed out along the long wooden jetty (that I've never actually noticed before) and stood out there almost in the water listening to the wind and the waves and birds calling for a good while.

I came off the prom at the windmill and headed through Lytham centre to pick up the woodland path that heads towards Ansdell. A completely different feel to the run here but just as invigorating as the sea air, lots of wildlife, flowers, trees and greenery. Shame its such a short section.

I got back to work feeling pretty good, legs didn't feel like lead so hopefully its time to build things back up again.

I was supposed to be doing Hawkshead Trail Race this weekend, if I had gotten out for my planned long run over Easter I would probably do it but I need to get some long tarmac runs in my legs so I've decided not to, also its a race with 2000ft of climb and I will push myself too hard if last year is anything to go by.

Its a sold out event so if anyone wants a number for it they can have mine, I think the organisers are ok about transfers?.....Actually, just checked and apparently they are not! I'm sure people swap numbers for these events?

Lunchtime Run

Took my stuff to work with me to get out at lunchtime. It was nice in the morning so I thought I would maybe go out after work instead, then I remembered the forecast was for the weather to change in the afternoon.

I decided to do 8 miles at long tempo pace, around 8:50 ish. Lovely and sunny when I set off, a fair breeze too. I decided to run down to Lytham and back, I would have the wind in my face on the way back to work so I decided to do the outward part along the prom as its much more exposed then back through the the more built up and sheltered paths.

Legs felt ok and I settled into pace and pretty much stayed there. Running down the prom the sun was out and the wind was behind me, I was boiling. On the way back it clouded over and the wind picked up and I was verging on being cold. I was cold enough that I picked up the pace on the last couple of miles. I was generally sheltered from the worst of the wind but there were a couple of times when I turned to head towards the beach a little and I was almost blown to a standstill.

As it chucked it down in the afternoon I was pleased I had gotten out there.

8 miles at 8.43 mm. The splits show I was around the high 8.40 mark for 5 out of the 8 miles. The last two miles were faster due to the cold and my legs just feeling up for it but mile 4 was also quite fast as the wind was pushing me along, I was leaning back against it.

Ooh, that was warm.

I arrived back at work after my lunchtime run beetroot red and radiating heat from my face. I was a little over dressed for todays speed session. I seem to have been avoiding doing some really hard sessions for a while so today's interval session was 4 x 800 metres (half a mile for me) with 90 second recoveries.

I headed down towards Lytham for just over two miles of warm up, as it was into the wind I it was quite refreshing. I set off far too fast for the first interval as usual and finished the half mile at 7.10 mm (3:34) average. The were supposed to be at 7:30 mm at the fastest, oops here I go again overdoing it but the marker was set to I thought I had to try the remaining ones at that pace. I had a quick pitstop in the loos before setting off on the next one (finished coffee too close to run).

The second one felt pretty good and was as it turned out even faster, 7.02 mm (3:30). I recovered well and set off on the third one, going pretty good until turning off the prom and up the main path along the road. The sun was out and I was behind the dunes and was being sheltered from the wind, it was like running into a sauna. I was boiling by the end of that one and had slowed down a bit as I felt I was overheating but 7.10 mm (3:34) pace again.

I actually stopped after this interval, stopped the timer for a bit, took my buff off my head and faced the cooling wind until I cooled down a bit - its probably not even that warm really but I'm so used to it being cold. I set off on the last interval and ran part of it into the wind which was just lovely and 7.12 mm (3:36)pace. Three out of four intervals were quite consistent, just one that was too fast.

I finished off with a bit of a jog along the beach before heading back to work. Nice to do a proper session again.

I learned something today...

Scoffing a custard filled doughnut close to a run does not a happy digestive system make. Bleurgh. It wasn't a very successful run, I only did about 3.5 miles in the end.

I was wearing the Wave Creations today to get some miles on them and they felt like a couple of bricks strapped to my feet, they feel nice and cushioned when walking but not when running. I can only surmise its because I land on my heel when walking and I don't as much when running. That was the first annoyance. I had forgotten my gloves so I had really cold hands and I was dressed for a spring run so I was a little chilly setting off.

The sun was glorious so I decided to head to the beach, I wasn't moving very quickly and after about 3/4 mile I realised why as the custard doughnut started repeating on me. I felt like I was going to be sick.

On the plus side when I got to the beach it was lovely, beautiful sunshine, cold wind though. There was a very, very black cloud further north but it didn't seem to be moving much. I faffed about on the beach a bit taking in the fresh air hoping the doughnut would digest. No such luck so decided to jog back to work, slowly.

Attempt at Intervals

Thursday I had planned to do intervals at lunchtime. Nothing major, 5 x 2 mins to get my legs back into it again.

The warmup was ok, nice steady pace though I did think my legs were a little unresponsive, still not feeling sprightly but I thought I would give it a go and see how things went.

The first one was hard work, as it always is so I wasn't too worried but as it turned out this would be the fastest one. The second was a little slower and the third was slower still. As I normally find I am really getting into it by the third I took the hint and didn't do anymore.

I continued my run at a steady pace and my legs were ok with that, just over 7 miles in the end.

I realy hadn't factored in the recovery period from racing the half which was a little silly on my part though confirms I should keep it relativley light on the racing front for the next few months.

Today I decided to rest, I had thought about doing a short lunchtime run but I was planning an MTB ride on Saturday and a run on Sunday so I thought It would be better if I did nothing (I still brought my kit to work but didn't run in the end).

Faffing

My new Ipod arrived on Monday and I've spent what computer time I have had outside work sorting that out rather than blogging.

I had a rest day Monday as planned then headed out for a 3.5 mile recovery run on Tuesday. My calves felt worse on Tuesday than Monday and I had intended on doing a longer run but it wasn't sensible. My calves felt better after the run than before so maybe I should have run on Monday after all? As I had a short run I spent 20 minutes stretching before I had a shower.

Lunchtime Run (Spring ?)

Before heading to work this morning I did a few core exercises (no wine bottles were harmed) to see what was really weak. As usual its the lower abs that are the worst, upper abs not too bad so lots of reverse crunches for me.

I headed out at lunchtime for an easy paced 6 to 7 miles and it was positively spring like. I ran without gloves and my shins saw daylight for the first time in months, I had forgotten my buff as well but that was ok today.

I had a really enjoyable run along the prom which was a little busier than normal due to half term, when I thought about dropping down onto the beach to run I decided against it as there were loads of kids and dogs running around so it was safer up on the prom.

I stopped by M & S on the way back to pick up some lunch.

6.6 miles at 8:50mm and a nice rest day tomorrow.

Brrr!

It was baltic stepping out the door at lunchtime, its not often its that cold but it was today. I was shivering all the way to the gate and the firt 5 minutes or so of running I was still shivering. It doesn't make for a smooth stride.

I wasn't sure how things were going to go so I planned to take a "run as I feel" run today, head down to the beach and run along the sand. I got to the beach and the bliddy tide was in, properly in so that scuppered that one.

I ran along the prom, into the wind (bit of an error in route choice there) and it was absolutely freezing and grey, everywhere. It did look to be brightening up over Winter Hill though. The cold air was really affecting my breathing.

I was running ok so I decided to continue down to the edge of Lytham then run back along Clifton Drive, that should give me about 7 miles. I don't know what happened when I got onto the section from Ansdell to Lytham, maybe the prom changes direction slightly. Whatever, it seemed to get even colder. It was then a trade off between running fast enough to stay warm but not so much that I was having to breathe cold air in hard. Not pleasant, I was getting a headache and earache from the cold even though I was wearing a buff.

A bloke was running in the opposite direction to me wearing shorts, his legs were bright lobster red and very cold looking, think he should invest in some tights.

The difference was noticeable as I turned onto Clifton Drive as it is more sheltered and the wind was behind me, I speeded up a little here as I wasn't fighting the wind.

A very chilly 7.02 miles at 8:50 average. Quite pleased actually, its the pace I'm supposed to be doing longer tempo style runs at anyway.

One of the advantages of the tide being in is that I saw lots of birds feeding at the waters edge, I don't know what they were (will find out) but they were quite nodescript until they were flying then they had impressive white markings on the wings.

This Week....

Flown past! On the way home from the Lakes on Saturday the engine management light came on in my car and the engine lost power. It would still cruise along ok but acceleration was a bit glacial. On Sunday, I did nothing due to combination of dodgy car meaning I couldn't get anywhere to go for a hilly run and with it being the day after a proper crash my neck was really stiff.

Monday I spent the morning booking my car into the garage and then not much at all as my broadband wasn't working for a couple of hours. Luckily my work were very understanding letting me work from home and logging on once the broadband was back. I went out for a walk to the post office to check conditions and decided it was too slippy/icy/snowy everywhere to run comfortably (kicking myself for not doing something on Sunday), but did walk for an hour or two taking some frosty pictures.

Tuesday I got to work in Jez's car and did an interval session at lunchtime. I was doing the 5 mins hard, 5 mins easy session again. It was pretty windy but I had the wind behind me when doing the first interval and I set off far too fast! The second one was still wind assisted. For the other three I was sheltered a bit, particularly for the last two as the dunes were in the way of the wind. I decided to try to maintain the average pace of the first interval, which was really hard and on the last one I had to shout at myself not to stop.

I hung on and average paces for the five: 06.47 6.48 6.48 6.52 6.49

Which is quite amazingly consistent for me. The downside was that working so hard meant that two minutes felt like an eternity!

Wednesday I was again working from home, I was supposed to be dropping my car off at the garage. The plan was to put my bike in the back, drop the car off, cycle into Preston to visit Post Office and bank then bimble home. Stupid car decided it wouldn't start!!!!! I tried to locate some jump leads in case it was the battery, none of my neighbours who were in had them (or they were in hubbies car, who was at work).

I should really have some leads so I cycled to B & Q a mile away, they didn't have any. So I headed to Halfords aboout 4 miles away (passing the garage annoyingly) and back. Had to wait for a neighbour with a car to come home, linked it all up and fecker still refused to start. Just belched loads of acrid white smoke out the back. Ah well another wasted morning.

Spent all afternoon trying to contact the garage and trying to figure out what to do with the stupid thing. At about 3pm I cycled into Preston to do the errands I was supposed to do this morning. All the faffing about added up to 20 miles of cycling.

Thursday was tempo run day: 1 mile easy then 7 miles at long tempo pace. It had been snowing a little before I set off but nothing that was going to lie. As I stepped out the door I thought it was a bit warmer than yesterday. There wasn't much wind but I decided to run into it for the first half of the run. I ran down the prom to the monstrosity that is Lytham Quays, then from there to Green Drive, and back along the wooded track I discovered last time and then back to work.

After an easy mile and a bit where I had to slow myself down a lot I picked the pace up a bit. I wanted to see how long I could maintain 8:40 pace. As the snow had stopped it seemed get colder. When I turned back towards work at around the half way point I picked up the pace even more (it was bloody cold). Mile splits:

8.40 8.38 8.36 8.28 8.15 8.14 8.21

I felt I was running quite well at the end, last time I felt I was running that well I broke myself (paranoia). Hopefully as I have to rest on Friday it'll give my legs a good chance to recover.

More intervals

Yesterday I did the interval session I had postponed from last week. Not surprisingly it was hard but I did enjoy it, was a good idea not to do it last week though I would have been on my knees.

I was for 5 x 1K intervals, 400 metre recovery or as I couldn't be bothered changing the units on the Garmin 0.62 mile intervals and 1/4 mile recovery.

My legs still had some stiffness in them from Saturday so a slow two mile warmup. The first interval was by far the hardest, took me a while to wind my legs up. The fourth one was also slower as I had to slow right down to take a corner and dodge a dog that came flying out of the dunes to run next to me. It was just a pup so obviously a little overexcited but it was still a big dog (Old English Sheepdog I think) and nearly tripped me up.

I did all five ok, I could have probably managed a sixth if my life depended on it but was actually really glad to stop. I jogged back to work quite smoothly (but slowly) and suprisingly my legs felt great after hammering them.

Average paces for the intervals:

7.42 7.34 7.35 7.43 7.38

For once I didn't seem to have to constantly adjust the pace either, apart from the last one where I set off far too fast. Still not looking forward to doing a whole mile interval.

7 Miles at tempo pace

... plus an easy mile at the start. That's what I had planned for today, 8 miles at lunchtime is not something I've done for a very long time. Not since I started running a couple of years ago and tried to go from 3 to 8 miles in a couple of weeks and promptly injured myself.

So, as I'm more used to longer runs now the result should be slightly less traumatic. I class this as a long tempo run (I will have to do 8 and even 9 miles at tempo pace in a few weeks) so I was aiming at averaging 10K pace plus 30 -35 seconds for the 7 miles, around 8:50 - 8:55 pace. I set the zone and the duration of the tempo into the Garmin, I would just run an easy mile before kicking the workout off.

I did have a fair faff before setting off out the door today for some reason. I had decided to do some exploring, rather than head directly to the beach I wanted to explore some tracks, e.g Green Drive. I had hoped it would be a couple of miles of nice woodland trail, I was to be disappointed though. The weather had improved somewhat as it was gloriously sunny but pretty windy.

So I set off out the pedestrian only gate onto Shepherds Road and my Shuffle died about two seconds after I switched it on, guess who forgot to charge it. I was a bit miffed as I prefer road runs with my Ipod but I had no choice but to carry on, to be honest I didn't miss it.

I was basically going to do the first couple of miles of my cycle commute route home but rather that do exactly the same I found some cycle paths which cut the corner off. If they hadn't changed the gate I'd just come out of to pedestrian only access these paths would have been really useful to cut out the traffic lights.

I was onto Blackpool Road and just decided to follow the cycle route signs straight away, I don't normally go this way on my bike as it just routes you the long way round a housing estate and pops you back out on the same road further down, a bit pointless really. However, I was trying to keep an eye out for any woodland paths so I headed down there. No way of getting anywhere but the estate so I just followed it round and picked up my main cycle commute route. I'd done an easy mile by this point so I kicked off the tempo part and tried to keep a steady pace.

I used the lap pace screen all the time as it was showing me my average pace rather than current pace. My plan was to do a couple of slower miles and some faster miles, to average 8:50 - 8:55 over the whole 7 miles. It felt a nice pace to run at actually. These long tempo runs are supposed to be getting me used to running at close to marathon pace (which will be slower than this, oh yes!).

I could see some woods but I couldn't find any way of getting into them (there isn't, that's why). I knew I had spotted a way on to Green Drive when cycling in in the morning, it was pretty much where I turned off the main road as I entered Lytham (yes, Lytham). So I just decided to head for that.

I got there and turned onto Green Drive. It wasn't what I was expecting as it was tarmaced but it was lovely, lots of birds tweeting (glad I didn't have my Ipod on here) and trees etc. I could see the bluebells starting to push up already so need to come through here in the spring. They had an information board which was very informative about all the trees in that section but I was disappointed to learn that it was only a kilometre long. It was part of the original driveway to Lytham (yes, Lytham) Hall.

I was soon back out on a main road and I wondered where to go next as I still had about 3 miles or so to complete. I decided as I'd come back to Ansdell (ahem) that I should just head down to the beach. The road I was on would take me straight down so off I went. As I was climbing the railway bridge I came across another signpost describing a woodland path. There was a path that ran from Lytham (yes, Lytham) to Ansdell, following the railway line. Now, I thought I was in Ansdell so I looked on the other side of the road trying to see where the path went to Lytham but couldn't see one. I continued running.

As I crossed over the railway and started heading down the other side I noticed the Railway Tavern.....but that's in Lytham? Finally the lights went on and I realised I was in bloody Lytham not Ansdell, what a clown. So back over the bridge and onto the woodland track to Ansdell, which was just lovely.

It took me back out onto Blackpool Road, I still had some distance to do so I decided to head to the beach. When I got there the wind was very strong, its never a good sign when a flock of seagulls are sheltering from the wind behind a car rather than flying. It was really hard work running against the wind, its was hard to breathe as well as the air was whipping past my face so fast. I actually dropped down off the prom onto the tracks beside Fairhaven Lake to get away from it, I can usually stick it out but I took my cue from the seagulls today and made it easier for myself.

I was feeling very hungry by this point and I still had the last mile to complete and time was really, really getting on so I speeded up a bit to get back to work. I completed the 7 miles but had 3/4 of a mile still to run back to work, which I ran faster than ideal as it was getting on for 13:45.

So quick shower - the showers in R block are just a revelation, they have.....a radiator in the room...no more freezing my arse off in baltic room after stepping out the shower, total bliss. Then I inhale some food, I am so hungry. Then I look at the Garmin, the splits for the 7 miles are:

8.58
8.48
8.50
8.44
8.45
8.53 (wind)
8.21 (I'm late!)

I averaged 8:43 over the 7 miles so not bad. I ran 8.9 miles in total on a bowl of porridge at 9am and a slice of banana loaf at 11, no wonder I was hungry. Now that I've got a better idea of where these tracks are I should be able to link them up into a big loop with some beach running too.