StewieG

So this month I have so far hit a new 10K PB of 1:03:33 and also got a Strava crown! So I'm really happy with how this month is going. I want break the 30 minute mark this month for my 5K PB. I'm off work Monday and so I'm going to take the dog and thrash one out, hopefully I will break that mark! If not then I will try again another day but it must be done!

The progress I have made since starting running is phenomenal. I have persuaded the wife to start running and she has now started the C25K app I did. Looking back it's amazing. When I started I could barely run for a minute without feeling like I was going to keel over! Now I can comfortably run a 5K at a slow pace without stopping. The progression has been subtle. But I think the best thing is my mental attitude. I have learnt to mentally push myself. When I am hurting and don't want to run anymore I can mentally push through the pain and the body does respond.

This challenge has really kept me going on days when I didn't want to. Also I got my run the board medal. 🏅🏆I originally wanted to achieve this in 3 months. It took me 2 months and a few days to achieve in the end. So I exceeded my expectations. And I love it! It's huge 😆.

So at the end of June I am on 242km ran! Before I was adding Kms walked in with it. However I have convinced myself that these Kms do not count. I want to have Run the entire 500km. I am 8 Kms behind schedule. This is can cope with. This month I am setting a target for 60km ran. More than I would have in any other month. So I want to end July on around 300-310km.

I have been back out running since my race after taking a few days to recover. It's amazing how much I crave it. I find myself running more now I have bought a treadmill instead of paying for a gym membership. As I will go out to see family and then just run when I come home, where as I wouldn't bother usually. I'm looking forward to going for my next long run after work. Will have to plan it for a day when it's not busy!

I am thinking of booking another race towards the end of the year. As I really enjoyed the first one.

So today marked a milestone in my running journey. My first race. I made the mistake of assisting set up first, which gave my legs a good workout but that necessarily wasn't a good thing. I ran a chip time of 1:08:05 which isn't a PB for me but I was still really happy with this time as I wanted a time of under 1:10:00. So I achieved the result I wanted. Could have done better but that would involve me not setting up next time. I had to fight through the urge to stop running in the final 200m but I managed to cross the line whilst still running so really happy.

After my last post I gave myself a severe talking to. I don't know why I was losing motivation. Maybe the weather had a part to play, plus injury and work. I mean I can sit here all day and make excuses but really the truth of it is if I had of forced myself out I know I would of shook this slump I had fallen into.

Whilst I was in Norfolk I bought a running lead for my dog, as I had never took him with me as he is one strong spaniel! Plus I didn't have a decent lead to take him on just a retractable which I didn't see as appropriate. This morning was the day I decided to take him out with me. I walked for the first couple of minutes as I knew he would be running all over the place and I wanted to get a feel for how it would actually go with him pulling me along.

I can honestly say it was one of the best runs I have ever had. I set out to try and do 10k. I knew this was ambitious as I haven't run for a week and haven't done a 10k since around April. But as I have a race in a couple of weeks I wanted to get a feel for the time and pace I could achieve. I have set out to finish the race in 1:10:00. Today I ran with the dog and actually managed the full 10K! I also managed it in 1:05:49 which I was overjoyed with. Hit my fastest 5K and my fastest 10K ever! I can safely say I am out of this horrible lack of energy mode and looking forward to taking the dog out again with me.

I haven't been posting that many run updates as this month I have been extremely busy with work and now on holiday. However I am still running. This month I have really kicked it up a gear. I have ran as much as I could. I have loved running in Norfolk. As you just get views that you don't in my hometown. As you can see from my screenshot, I am actually nearly hitting 100km for this month!!! I have tomorrow still to add some km and that is what I'm going to do! Also put a dent in my run the board medal 😁

I'm back!

Took it easier this morning and ran at a comfortable pace, I managed to complete the run I set out to do at a reasonable pace. It seems this pace is the way forward for the time being as my ankle held up the whole way. Was a little achy when I got home but seems fine now.

This is the run I am most proud of to date, as I ran 95% of it. I only walked as I had to check on my phone that I was following the route before I got very lost. It was a run that felt good, before, during and after. I loved every second of it. Now I am back in my running shoes properly I will definately be starting the run the board challenge soon. I am going to try and smash it out in 2 months, June and July. However I realise this is a big challenge so if I take the 3 months to complete it. I don't mind.

I went for a small run tonight. I wanted to take a slow run to weigh up where my muscle recovery is. But ended up with an okay run... Faster than I wanted really.. it's like I cannot run slower. My body just wants to goooo. Since I finished my Runderground medal I am unsure wether to start my run the board a month early or wait one more month and start it in June. I will continue running this month now I know that my muscle can take it. As I need to start training for my 10k in June anyway. Yes I took the plunge and entered my first race! What have I done 🤪

Not being able to run last month for most of the month literally gave me the motivation to absolutely smash it from now in. And also try not to get injured again, although I know this is an unfortunate side effect of running.

So I'm currently sitting at 172km for the year. Which is great. It's further than I thought I would have run at this point. It's further than I have ever run. I'm still on target to finish with over 500km by the end of the year. So although I had an off few weeks due to injury I am still going to achieve my target!

So I managed to get out today after a week of letting my Achilles tendon rest. I must admit I was really nervous about running and very careful that I didn't over do it, as I didn't want to make my injury worse. However I loved every second of getting out again. I couldn't have waited any longer. It was a light run that started off a good solid pace and then went downhill from there, pace wise anyway.

My first km was a good 6:00 but then each following was 7:30+. However I'm not downhearted about it. It's another 5km chipped off my Runderground medal and another 5km towards my yearly target. I may be behind on my monthly target this month with not being able to run for a week because of the pain and being unable to walk properly. However now that I know I can at least run 5km with this Achilles I shall be doing at least every other day.

So I only have just over 12km left to run on my Runderground to achieve my target. It has taken me a lot longer than I would have liked as I planned on doing it in 4, 10km runs. However I didn't plan on getting injured so plans have had to change. I cannot wait to finish it. I cannot wait for my injury to heal. And I cannot wait to get on with trying for a new 10k PB. As I am hoping to enter a 10K race this year in June. Dependant on my tendon.

Added another 5K on to my yearly total on Friday and my ankle is really playing up now. I am unsure wether to run for a few days as I don't want to make it worse however I don't want to not run! It's a dilemma. I am currently on 58% for my Runderground and I know I can box it off in 2 runs it's just wether I should or not for now. I will have to see how it is tomorrow as I am tired today after a long night.

I volounteered for my first event last night from midnight onwards. Setting up the first Peterborough marathon! I have never done this before and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Walking some of the course really made me realise how far 26.2 miles is!! I met some great people and got stuck in with the hard work. It was interesting to see behind the scenes of how hard everyone works to put an event together. It was great getting involved with Sublime Racing as they are a great bunch of people. Really dedicated to putting on great events.

I will definately be volounteering my time again in the future. And I will also be entering events too.

I'm currently sitting at 24.2 km for the month so far, also 157km for the year. If I can get to 200km by the end of the month I will be overjoyed!

So my first 2 runs with the Garmin went well, first managed a 10K and second run was this morning and managed another 5K. So adding the km to the challenge. My aim this month is still to hit 100K for the month! If I achieve it then I will be overjoyed. If not then at least I have it a good go!

I couldn't resist but to join up to the Runderground medal. I am currently around 46% of the way through it. So I look forward to adding that to my collection.😁

I am happy with the progress I am making although I did struggle a little this morning and I only went for a 5K. I think I forget that it's okay not to have a good run. And just because I have gone 10+ km it doesn't mean I can breeze a distance that is half of that. I think I may have started off this morning too quickly and so my legs were just not happy with me. I also developed a but of a twinge in my ankle, so had to take the pace down as I really don't want to risk an injury. I think I need to work on my 5K distance for now. Try and get that boxes off so I'm happy with the pace and able to run the whole thing without stopping. I may still throw a longer run in now and then, but I am going to try and run more, shorter distances. ‏ — feeling sweat

My wonderful wife bought me a new watch for my birthday yesterday. It's my first Garmin so I'm looking forward to getting to grips with it. I did a small run on the 1st April and injured my foot, so going to take a few days to just make sure I'm back to normal and then really go for it this month. I want 100km. I'm going to achieve this.

I am really looking forward to starting the run the board challenge. It's going to be a real challenge, which is why I entered.

I'm finishing this month on 63.9km. Which isn't the 75 km that I wanted. Although I am actually ahead of target still which is awesome. I have ran further than ever before this month. I have really enjoyed it. April is my birthday month and so I am going to up my game and really push to see if I can get close to 100km ran in just a month. Which will also be good preparation for the run the board challenge.

I got up early this morning with a mission. My mission was to run that extra 1 and a bit km to finally reach the 10K mark. It was tough and there were times I just wanted to walk home... But I achieved it. I finally ran my first 10K. In a pretty reasonable time also. I wanted to keep my pace under 7:00 a km. Which I managed so I'm really happy with that.

I want to try and hit 75km by the end of the month as I'm currently sitting at 58.7km. Which has smashed my previous 2 months. But I think if I can hit 75k by the end of the month I will have more confidence in going into the run the board challenge as I need to be hitting this amount a month to complete it. And there is no way I am not going to achieve that medal!

I'm going to try and do smaller recovery runs after I run over 8km to see if this helps as I have heard a lot about it.