Friday 1 November to Sunday 3 November

Total kilometres ran in 2019 before the start of the week: 1250.6 kilometres

Distance recorded in my little tracking spreadsheet.

Feel free to follow me on Strava, where all my activities are shared.

Friday 1 November

On Friday I wrote my run notes for October. I noted some goals for November. A little planning just helps. Some goals for the months. Then most weeks I add some detail, work out what running I plan to do for the coming week or two.

For November I thought it’d be interesting to jot down and publish my run notes weekly rather than just doing one note for the whole month. It is just an experiment. If there is anything you’d find interesting drop me a line and I’ll try to work it in.

Friday was a day of no running though, not even a visit to the gym. There was some sledging at Xscape near Castleford, but it doesn’t really count. Also rest is OK.

Saturday 2 November

A great thing about where we live: There are lots of long roads nearby, a canal with a decent towpath alongside, and plenty of tracks and trails through the many woods nearby.

Saturday mornings are usually when the dog needs A Bit Of A Walk. Earlier this year I’d take the dog along the canal, but after a couple of runs when Scrogs came back with poorly paw pads I had to rethink my Saturday mornings with her. The dog likes grass fields and woodland and over the past month or so I’ve been exploring the woodland north of the River Aire near us, specifically around Esholt Woods. It’s only been the past few weekends I have come to peace with going out with the dog to the woods and at a pace the dog is happy with.

The past few weekends have also tended to be wet. This Saturday wasn’t any different. I am glad I have a pair of Nike Wildhorses for sloppy conditions!

View activity on Strava.

Sunday 3 November

Bradford City Runs 10km

I only entered this 10km on Thursday, having seen the race when looking into some future races. There were a few races listed for the day – 5km, 10km, 10 miles, half a marathon – which all rely on the same 5km loop.

At the Leeds Abbey Dash last week I found being in a race made me grind through the kilometres in a way I’d not done before. Keep going, keep going, keep going. Racing amongst other people isn’t something I am too up on, the Abbey Dash and the Leeds half marathon all I have done.

I live in Bradford so it’s a home run. I also know the course wasn’t going to be as flat or fast as the Abbey Dash, where I ran 50:48. What would some hills do to me? So I fancied another 10km to compare.

It was the first run with my Hoka One One Clifton 6s and some merino gloves, but that’s by the by.

The start of the race wasn’t the best: It wasn’t clear when the 10km race had started so I was one of the last out and a little fumbling. But once I was off it was steady away. Until I turned off Thornton Road onto Longside Lane, which was a climb uphill. I took it alright, shorter strides and limiting my arm movement.

Turning onto Shearbridge Road meant I knew running down Great Horton Road next would be downhill, the chance for some springy strides to get my pace up a bit. After the plateau through the city centre, past the Westfield shopping centre, the climb in Little Germany was a grind — and over cobbled roads in places — with the weaving up to Peckover Street sapping. But again, once at the top you know there’s a bounce down. Hitting the level roads again meant it was steady away until getting to Longside Lane again.

About 6km near the top of Longside Lane the back of my right leg started to tighten and hurt, eventually the pain being considerable with a couple of kilometres to go. I had to stop to stretch it out at one point. I clenched my teeth and fists and pounded on, but it was agony. My pace dropped in those last two kilometres. As the chance of hitting sub-50 had faded on Great Horton Road, I was happy to just finish and finish as close to 50 minutes as I could given the pain.

I found the difference in actually racing rather than going for a run come through again though. For the last four kilometres of my race I’d been swapping places with a woman in a red Park Run 50 top. With half a kilometre to go I was behind again but wanted to be closer to 50 minutes than 55 minutes. I focused and tried to ignore the pain, starting to pick the pace up as much as I could, steadily trying to catch her up. I passed her as we came onto the paving of City Park, with about 300 metres to go, and kept pushing as hard as I could.

Crossing the finish line I was just thankful I’d actually crossed the line running, not walking, and not having given up when I stopped to stretch the leg out. I didn’t stop moving when I crossed the line, walking away from the line. After 15 seconds I had to stop, leant over for a few minutes to let the pain in my leg take over me, deep breaths, collect my body again, and then walked over to get my bag.

51 minutes and 41 seconds was my chip time. I’d have taken 55 minutes beforehand given the hills. Against my 50:48 for the flat Abbey Dash, factor in the hills and the leg, that feels an improvement. Maybe that sub-50 is doable.

View the details on Strava.

The week in summary

Number of runs: 2 (in 3 days)

Kilometres run in the (short) week: 17.8 kilometres

Total kilometres ran in 2019 by the end of the week: 1268.4 kilometres

Looking ahead

I am working away for a few days of the week. This means two overnight stays in Newcastle. I usually play what I do a little by ear but have a rough plan. I have two evenings and two mornings to do something. There’s a gym at the hotel. There’s well lit roads nearby. There’s a good chance of a 8km run and a 5km run over those days. the hotel room is quite roomy so a chance for some stretches and yoga (thanks to James Boardwell for pointing me to something useful on that one).

Friday, I fancy a run out towards Esholt, which will probably be a long lunch affair. Down to over the river, along the track, and then onto the quiet roads through the village. Steady though because on Saturday I have another race, arrrgghh.

Sunday I’ll be having off as I’m away at a gig Saturday night. This means a little planning for the weekend if I wanted to do a run: I’ve got a place on the Holly Hustle 11km in Meanwood on the Saturday. Looks a bit dirtier than the road races of the past two weekends. Oooo, dirty.

I’ve added to some more runs to my list of runs in Evernote I am looking at and doing in 2020. The list is openly available for anyone to look at.

I also have a hit list of runs to do which is also openly available. If there’s any races or runs you recommend please me know!

Question: How do you plan your running week?

See you in a week!


This post tagged with:
running, run notes