30 minute run door to door

Well I just finished a 30 minute run door to door, I’m proud because it’s the first time I have run without warming up first (not sure if that’s a good thing). Usually when I run I walk at least half a kilometre before I begin running, but as I had so much energy tonight I decided to just start running without the warm-up, maybe the Redbull I had earlier helped me!

I was going to run on the treadmill after work but didn’t feel up to it, amazing by around 7pm I decided to go for a run before it got dark. So glad I ran outside instead of running on the treadmill, it’s so much harder running outside and definitely more enjoyable.

Whilst I was running I had my iPOD with me and my trusty Sennheiser PMX80 headphones, the best headphones I have ever owned, these things don’t move a bit when you run. And also realised how much I need dance music to keep me going, which is why I purchased 101 running songs from Amazon, its good because it has about 10 good 90s dance tunes and some awesome oldies like van Morrison brown eyed girl!

Not sure how far I actually ran in 30 minutes but I kept a good pace for me (10 minute miles), so I’m guessing I ran about 5km, actually if anyone is reading this do they know of any good online running maps? I found this one http://www.runningmap.com/ which seems pretty good, any suggestions?

10km in 60 minutes (on the Treadmill)

Well I finally did my first 10k, well 10k on the treadmill. Still am very happy with the result. My furthest run prior to 10k was just over 8k which took me 50 minutes. I said to myself, “If I can beat 8k I’ll be happy”. I started off a little slow, I set the treadmill to 8kph, after 2 minutes I set it to 10kph. 15 minutes in I felt fine, and kept telling myself that I can do at least 30 minutes. Well 30 minutes passed and I felt a little tired, but thought if I can do 30 minutes I can do 45 minutes.


I got to 45 minutes of running and really started to feel it, but said to myself “if I can do 45 minutes I might as well do 50 minutes and match the 8km I did 2 weeks prior”. 50 miniutes past and I said to myself “I know I’m tired but I can do 60 minutes” Well, 60 minutes passed and I had completed 10k. I was so happy with myself.


I staggered off the treadmill and had to sit down as my legs were a little wobbly; when I got home I decided to have an ice bath to reduce the muscle soreness the next day. All in all a great run, the next one will be a 13k.

London Marathon Day Run, Achieved 7.1km in 40 minutes (Pace 9 minutes 04 seconds)

Sorry if the title of this blog post is confusing, I just want to state that I did not run in the London marathon, I just ran on the same morning as the marathon.

I woke up on the morning of the London Marathon and decided that if I was to sit and watch the starting of the marathon at 10am I should run myself so I don’t feel as guilty. 7.30 AM, the alarm on my phone starts ringing, I get up and get dressed in my running gear. My running gear consists of a pair of running shorts a running top and some running shoes (A mixture of Brooks & Asics brands).

About 300 yards from my house is a canal where I do most of my running, it’s great because the canal path was paved about 3 years ago. Also the path I run along is exactly 2km distance, so I know if I run the whole path I cover 2km.

I always walk from my house to the canal to warm my legs up before a run, this is good for me as I don’t believe in stretching before a run (well maybe if I were to run a marathon). I had my heart rate monitor with me (not to check my heart rate but to time the run) I started the heart rate monitor and away I went. I started slow for the first couple of hundred metres to make sure my legs warm up, after this I go to my full running pace (currently between 10km – 10.5km speed).

I had my iPOD blaring up at full volume; I listen to rock and roll music such as “Huey Lewis – The Power of love” and “Blink 182 – All the small things”. Before I knew it I had reached the end of the canal (2km) so turned around and decided to run back to the start position. 3 songs later I reached the start position and had completed 4km. I was starting to run out of energy but decided I had enough to run back to the end of the canal, as I neared the end of the canal path I felt my pace slow down a little, but was really determined to get to the end (i.e. 6km).

Another three or so songs later I reached the end of the canal path (6km). At this point I was very tired but I was about 1km away from the road that leads back to my house, so I decided to run back to this point, I knew when I got to that point I could walk the 300 yards home, so I kept my head down and ran the last 1 km to the road, making sure I really listen to my music, thankfully the song that came on my iPOD was “Eric Prydz – Pjano”. Amazingly the song finished just as I reached the road, I was so pleased with myself that I managed to run a good distance (7.1 km in 40 minutes). Now I could go back home, get a shower, eat some breakfast and watch the London Marathon without feeling so guilty :-)

5 mile run in 50 minutes, loved it and felt the runners high!

I decided to go for a run last Sunday to see if I could beat my previous 2.4 mile run without stopping. I knew the hills would be challenging for me but was determined to better the 2.4 miles I previously did. I walked for the first mile to warm up my legs, I made sure I consumed the right amount of water during the walk.

I reached the starting point and began running, I got off to a good start and before I knew it I was a mile into the run. I had my iPOD with me the whole time which really helped me keep my 10k pace and forget about the run.

About 25 minutes into the run I was at the half way point, this was the point that I stopped last time, as I came up to this point I made sure my music was at full volume and I also kept my head down. For the next 10 minutes I kept my head down, I looked up and realised how far I had come, 3.5 miles. I was now starting the dreaded hill climb, this climb lasts for about 800 metres so I really wasn’t looking forward to it. I decided to pick a club song with a good beat to get me to the top of the hill. I kept my head down and really tried to listen to the music (anything to stop me thinking about the hill). I found that my pace slowed up as i got further up the hill, but I didn’t care as long as I got to the top that was all that matters

Finally I reached the top of the hill and that’s when I felt the runners high. At this point I was 100% determined to finish the 5 mile run, nothing could stop me. I got to the finish point and was so proud of myself, that was my first ever 5 mile run and I managed to do it in 50 minutes without stopping!

Probably 2 Mile Run, But Didn’t Time it

I decided to go for a run tonight as the previous night the wife and I found a proper paved walkway stretching about a mile up the canal. I normally don’t like running on the canal because it’s a bumpy surface and hurts my ankles, but because the path was paved I decide I would run on it.

As you can imagine a canal has a pretty flat surface (okay some minor inclines and declines but nothing I can't handle) making my run a bit easier on the legs. Before the paved path there is gravel and grass for about half a kilometre so I decided to walk along this bit to warm up my leg muscles. I reached the pavement along the canal and starting running, my pace to start with was a little slow probably averaging about 8kph as I tend to speed up after the first couple of hundred metres (probably to between 9kph and 10kph). I hadn’t seen the end of this paved track from yesterdays walk so I wasn’t sure how long it carried on for, nonetheless I carried on for probably about 1k. At this point the pavement stopped and changed into a muddy track, I decided to turn around and run back to my starting point which would at least make it a 2k run.

When I reached the starting point I was surprised to find that I still had energy so I decided to run back again, when I got to the other end I then decided to stop as I was feeling tired (also I sprinted the last 100 metres). I think in total I must have run over 3km which in my estimation is about 2 miles :-) I want to double that on the next run and go for 4 miles

4.55k in 30 minutes on the treadmill

I had just finished a 2 hour weight session on Monday night, I worked out my legs and shoulders, normally I finish my weight sessions with about 10 minutes of cardio activity, and I either walk or jog on the treadmill for 10 minutes or use the exercise bikes for about 15 minutes (I don’t use the cross trainer as I find it boring).

On Monday I decided to jog on the treadmill at quite a slight jogging pace, I set the treadmill to manual mode (meaning no time limit) with 0% incline at 9km speed. After about 8 minutes I thought to myself I might as well do 15 minutes to really get the lactic acid out of my legs. When I got to around 13 minutes I said to myself “I’ve come this far I may as well do 20 minutes”. I got to about 19 minutes and thought “hell why not do 25 minutes” I finally got to 25 minutes and thought “I might as well make it an even 30 minutes”. At about 29 minutes I increased the speed to 10.5km just to mix it up a bit, which means I actually achieved around 4.55k distance for 30 minutes without stopping :-)

When I got home I decided that I must bathe my legs in cold water for at least 10 minutes because I really worked my legs that night. So a good start already, only a week into running again and I’m starting to get better already. Of course it’s always easier to run on a treadmill compared to running outside, nonetheless I still managed to run for 30 minutes without stopping which may be easy for some but for me is a good personal achievement. Also I wasn’t that tired when I finished my 30 minute run, okay my ankles were hurting slightly but I know I could have gone longer, maybe next time ill run for 45 minutes.

My First Run in 2 Years!

I decided to go for a run on Saturday, so on the Friday night I searched on the internet for some running tips & general advice. I had quite a few questions about running because this time I don't want to just run for the sake of it, I figure if I research properly it will help me get into the sport that is running!

My first question was "what food should I eat before running". I found out that certain cereals & fruits that are low in fibre are the best foods to eat before you run. Some examples are grapes, tomatoes, grapefruit, pasta, rice etc. As I had none of these I decided to eat some porridge with, almonds, blueberries, mixed seeds and some honey (the same breakfast I have every morning).

I also wanted to know "how long to wait before running after eating". It turns out its pretty much like swimming, 1 hour. Well I know from personal experience with weight lifting that I normally have to eat 2 hours before training so I thought I would try that and see how I got on. FYI I found all this information on running.about.com

So I woke up on Saturday at 8am, had a light porridge breakfast and let it sink in my stomach for the next 2 hours. My friend knocked on the door at 10am and he drove us down to the start position (the start position being near a canal). My friend runs every week so I knew he would find running a breeze.

I set the challenge for myself to run 8km (about 5 miles) which my friend thought would be quite tough for a first timer considering 1 mile of the run was up a long gradual hill.

Anyway we set off running (probably averaging about 8-9km pace). My friend stayed in front keeping the pace and I kept my head slightly down looking at his back, I found this easier to take my mind off the distance, I knew that if I kept looking to see how far I had run I would start thinking too much and possibly stop running.

About 2km into the run and I’m already starting to “feel the burn” so I decided to take my mind off running and start talking to my friend, even though I was a little out of breath I found talking to my friend helped me forget about the running. Before I knew it we reached 3km and I was ecstatic. However as we got to the 4km mark I really started to run out of energy, mainly because the dreaded hill had started.

I had to stop to get my breath back, I was gutted because I knew it was all in my mind, or maybe it wasn’t, maybe I just outpaced myself, either way I had stopped. My friend told me not to worry and that I did very well considering it was my first run for at least 2 years. After the short walk I decided to carry on running up the hill, I finally made it to the top (with another 3 to 4 stops in between). Once I got to the top of the hill I had reached about 5km. I knew from this point forward it was a downhill/flat 3km to the finish. I kept on going for the last 3km without stopping.

For my first run I was impressed with myself, I did not expect to even complete the 8km. When I got back home my knees and ankles were killing me, probably because it’s the first run for 2 years but also because I ran on asphalt. Because my knees and ankles were hurting so much I decided to sit my legs in a cold bath (not an ice bath but very close to it) for about 15 minutes. This really helped my recovery as it stopped my legs from hurting on the Sunday.