Training Log Archive: Old Daniel

Today was a bit rubbish. I felt a bit rubbish when I woke up, I am getting more and more bored and fed up. (I guess I am not unique in that), it was raining, I did not want to run but went out. Cut out some hills, ran straight across Purdown, down the road over motorway, Eastville Park, Frome Valley and Begbook Park. I really was very slow and by right knee hurt. Grump, grump, grump

Purdown standard, again ran in light rain, this time in studded shoes which was better. Thought I ran pretty well today and did kick on quite hard at the end. So was actually expecting quite a quick time but actually near identical to yesterday so Hey Ho!

Purdown standard route, first wet day for some time. Heavy rain am but only drizzle when I ran pm. Surprisingly just one days rain and some parts of Purdown are returning to its normal greasy self. So times may be a bit slower but ran ok today. Knees not perfect but really not too bad, soft ground probably helped. Seemed to be ok on the hills. Note: remember that the difficulty of running in the rain is leaving the front door and then its ok

Predictably the knees are a bit wrecked so chose a flatish road run to and from Westbury Park

The family were doing a 2.6 challenge. So later in the day Evie, Oliver, Daniel and I banged saucepans for 2.6 mins and with Goys we put on 26 T shirts etc. The whole thing was sort of virtual relay. Bristol, Sheffield, Cardiff, Bristol, Denmark, London. As it was a challenge I decided to run 26km on the road, I never do this because my knees hate it. Ran out through Winterbourne, Frampten and Coalpit Heath then back through Downend to Eastville Park. By this time my knees were not very happy and I abandoned the road and ran a loop on Purdown to get the distance so the last 3 miles were actually quite slow. Had thought I might go a bit quicker but just not really running smoothly as I don't practice. Not as beaten up at the end as I might have been. So not a terrible idea

C • 26km 2

Did not feel great early on and by lunch time it was sunny and quite hot. With the perceived relaxation on travel to parks Purdown was heaving and I really struggled to think of a route that could be done in anything like a continuous fashion, that I wanted to do. So essentially stayed within 1km of my house running a multitude of small loops each with a hill some big, some small mostly in the woods behind my house and on the Stoke Hill road. The wood gave good shade but run mostly on hard surface including road. Ran continuously for 60 mins. A fell runner would regard this as trivial but I thought ok although a bit tedious and would not rush to repeat. Certainly better than the alternative of recording rest day. If the weather stays good, weekend running is going to require some imagination.

Ran the same loop as yesterday, Purdown, Eastville Park and just into Oldbury Court . Concentrated, ran quite hard and was going well. Some delays for pedestrians but nothing exceptional so had hoped for a good time. So although faster not by much and so slightly disappointed. Perhaps Monday was just exceptionally good

Middle standard run, Purdown, Eastville Park and just into Oldbury Court. A lot of stops waiting for people to pass. That said a much slower run than of late, a full 5 mins slower than on Monday was a bit of a surprise. I just must have not been concentrating and just pottering along. Still had the hills though and as I have done some quite quick runs lately perhaps no bad thing. Excellent weather continues

C • Just pottering along 2

Standard Purdown route, nice day and lots of people had to make a couple of stops, counterbalanced by a couple of diversions. Quite quick and enjoyable

Purdown but only able to loosely follow the standard route. It seems that there has been a relaxation of regulations so that you can now drive within reason to exercise. Another nice bright sunny day and I ran a little later, so that may have been a contributing factor but there seemed to be many more people out and to make any progress at all had to significantly modify my route. Presumably the multitude on the narrow woodland just passed each other. Good to be out and I do hope the current enthusiasm for exercise in the countryside continues.

Purdown, Eastville park and just into Oldbury Court -the middle length run. Felt pretty spritely today. Another beautiful day with a bit of wind stopping it being too hot at least in the morning. The rain has just softened the underfoot conditions a little and feet feel better for it

Purdown on an idyllic spring morning. Lots and lots of people of all kinds out including lots of runners. Not surprisingly I did not feel very spritely and struggled a bit on the hills and in the last third but I did make it up them all. Many, many stops and time subtracted. It must help the overall time if you take 6/7 20or 30 sec time outs, there were also a couple of diversions so you really cannot compare the time. But so nice to be our running and the countryside is just looking fantastic - a real joy to run this morning and not too shabby training

Raining quite heavily early morning so initially quite unenthusiastic. Decide to add some variety. So Snuff Mills, short loop of Oldbury court and then up the Frome Way as far as Frampton Cotterell. It must have rained quite hard as the Frome was fast and really quite full, some of the paths were under water.
The route goes under the M4 viaduct, all was eerily quiet. I re-crossed the ring road without using the pedestrian lights. But there were plenty of walkers on the route and quite long sections are basically single file, actually quite lucky on the way out but decided against my plan to retrace steps and took the road option. The return was hence much faster resulting in low overall mins/ mile but the knees did not like nearly 6 miles on the road and protested

Purdown, standard route. It rained today and so went out later in the afternoon. Far less people about and so ran uninterrupted. Did end up cutting two corners so corrected watch time (5846) -supports the theory that the fast runs have been the equivalent of sub 60. Hurray

Run to and from Oldbury Court -warm up

Run from Snuff Mills. There is a lot of scrambling up and down Frome Gorge and picking through green that means this one slower than most. Did not feel I was going quite so well today.

The medium loop; Purdown: Eastville Park, Oldbury Court (Snuff Mills part)
Another nice sunny day and run was very fragmented, whilst there were a lot of folk out I just seemed to always meet a group often stationary at each bottleneck. So not ideal but more than ok in comparison to a lock down in many other countries. I do value being able to get out and run (however repetitious)

Purdown; running is a really natural and easy thing to do, sometimes it just feels like that. Yesterday was a struggle from when I left the front door. Today was mild, sunny, dry, and running was just easy I did not seem to try particularly hard yet before I knew it I was back at the front door and unlike yesterday when I was knackered I felt like I could do it again. Odd but its just how it is.
No rests but quite a big diversion on the second hill (at least 30 secs) so equivalent of sub 60 mins and yes I am Mr Smug at the moment.

Run to and from Oldbury Court -warm up etc

Much colder and windy day. Cleevewood, Frenchay and back to Oldbury Court. Took different routes. Both knees bad today particularly on downhills. Also quite tired

Purdown, quite early but lots of folk out today. Had to stop the watch twice to avoid crowding through gates. (I do hope that parents taking their little ones out to exercise will continue post lockdown) Both times a short rest quite welcome as I was struggling on the hills and to keep going in the last third. Did stay honest as time is fine but quite hard work

Purdown, Eastville Park, Oldbury Court, Frenchhay route. Ran earlier so not so hot, initially less families but more dog walkers. Getting a bit weary at about 2/3 and stamina currently questionable but hung on ok and faster than expected. Knackered now

C • JK 1979 5

Did not feel great today for some reason and so morale was quite low. It was almost like a mid-summer day so not going out promptly was not a great idea. As it was by the time I went out it was really quite hot. All that said I did not run too badly at all. Its quite odd how often this happens. Lots of people out and most are really exploiting the good weather whilst observing the spirit of the restrictions; so no real issues. On this run there were two specific times where I was delayed for some time whilst others sorted themselves out. (I don't mind this at all) In one case the man remonstrated with me for not coming past. (I suspect that they were arguing about who should pick up the dog poo) I explained cheerfully that the path was no where near 2m wide and that you could not get through the bushes, so I has stepped off the path ....his wife gave him hell and he went past somewhat sheepishly. ("There is now't so queer as folk...") Both times I stopped the watch which I have not been doing so its not possible to compare with other times -its not actually my fastest run but pretty good.
The little tear in my Right knee medial membrane is giving me jip again in the last few runs but mostly at the start and afterwards. The ground is now very hard and rutted and despite swapping shoes my feet are getting quite sore and blistered. Despite all this moaning really enjoying being out in the Spring and very lucky to have a garden and adjacent open spaces in which to exercise

Ran earlier in the morning in what is a spectacularly good sunny spring, Medium route; Purdown, Frome Gorge and just into Oldbury Court. More people out. It really is a joy to be out and running glad we have not had to give up exercise as part of lockdown

C • I agree! 1

Run to and from start/finish (warm up etc)

Ups my knee was sore when I got out of bed so decided against just going running. Ran to and from start and then an old urban course in Frome Gorge Got quite hot, seemed not to be going quickly but could not go any quicker
Ran in the middle of the afternoon which was really quite hot and felt slightly roasted by end

Purdown, another bright warm sunny day and pretty much unimpeded by other users. Going quite well on the flat but struggling a bit on the hills. Pretty pleased with the time. Much more like training than going for a run and enjoying the countryside. I suspect that I actually enjoy the latter more

A bit of a mongrel route through Purdown and Frome Valley. A little rain overnight but still excellent conditions, but basically a short option. Started quite steadily but ran last 10 mins quite hard

Purdown, another great sunny day for running. Ran this with the mindset of a time trial, really quite jaded by the third hill. Stuck pretty much to standard route and definitely a few stops to stand aside in the woods for pedestrians. So I do think its ok morally to think of this as breaking into the fifties which I am quite chuffed about. The weather may break and it will be back to plodding so making hay. I know I pushed it today, not only as it felt much more like a race but really tired afterwards and fell asleep in the garden

Purdown on a very pleasant, warm sunny Spring Saturday. Quite a lot of people out and had my first slight altercation with a guy who stood in a gate so I could squeeze past but eventually and very grudgingly he moved and about a minute later a young runner swerved off the main path (to avoid me? I was about to divert into the undergrowth) onto a side path, unfortunately there was a young family and he needed to stop or divert again but his momentum took him straight through. This social distancing >3m is a bit trickier in practice and I do need to consider best times to run. I bet Matt Hancock is hoping for rain.
Quite a fast time but did need to make a couple of small diversions so standard would probably have been 62+ mins. This was a pleasant surprise as having to work on hills.

C • Tricky 2

Similar route to Sunday (Purdown, Eastville Park, Frome Valley, Oldbury Court, Frenchay) but perhaps a little further in places. Good going underfoot and went quite well and no so tired towards the end. Today was a bit warmer as well. Quite pleased but thought that the time might be a little quicker. But still lots of good training

Purdown run, underfoot still hard and fast. Weather pretty grey and colder than of late. Three notable feature about the many exercising in the park. All seem to recognise the need for social distancing, many have no quite got the idea that this might involve a change in their direction preferring to freeze and be missed, most seem to think 2m = (about) 3-4 feet, but in general I would observe that most really do seem to be behaving in line with the advice. Not much to say about today's run