Good morning and happy Wednesday. As always, I hope that whoever takes the time to read what I suspect may well turn into another long blog had an amazing Bank Holiday weekend and start to the working week. My weekend had a few highlights; volunteering at Sutton Park parkrun, a win for Wolves, getting to check out what might turn out to be the new and improved Sutton Park parkrun course on Sunday, and lunch at the Giggling Squid.

As the Couch to 5k training plan doesn’t seem to work well for me, I decided to follow the This Messy Happy Beginner to 5k training plan which is available along with other training plans here.

The This Messy Happy website provided the following information about the training sessions in Week 4:

The This Messy Happy Beginner to 5k training plan is amazing as it includes a variety of strength and conditioning sessions and rest days, something lacking in the Couch to 5k training plan. Links to videos are provided for each strength and conditioning session, and the training plan also provides a link to a ‘How to stretch after exercise’ video.

Monday – 32 mins intervals (4 mins warm-up run then 1:30 mins walk/2:30 mins run x 6 then 4 mins cool-down walk)

Following a few too many days where a later-than-ideal night and poor sleep combined with a 5am interval session left me feeling shattered midway through the following day, I decided to try a new approach. To put it simply, if I was still awake at midnight I’d switch off my 5am alarm and would complete my interval session after work. This new approach meant that the first interval session of Week Four took place shortly after I’d finished work.

I wanted a change of running scenery and to run somewhere reasonably quiet, so I walked to the Four Oaks Estate, stretched, and started my warm-up run. I’d love to stay I found my interval session easy but thanks to the humidity and my inability to run the running repetitions at a sensible pace, I found most of the 32 minutes difficult. Even walking felt like hard work and running the final run repetition up a fairly steep hill ensured that I reached the end of the interval session looking like a beetroot.

I walked to where I’d arranged to meet up with a friend, captured a photo of a small section of my favourite Four Oaks Estate running routes, and a slightly dubious selfie.

One day I’ll work out how to capture more what I’ve described in the past as more blogworthy selfies. On Monday, all I managed to capture was a slightly blurry selfie of me looking like a beetroot. At least my fragile knees coped well with the interval session.

Tuesday – Strength and Conditioning (Core)

Once work was complete, Tuesday had quite a few highlights. I walked to Boots to get some exercise and to purchase some bits and pieces for my trip to Warrington and remembered to spend some of my Advantage Points. Faith Kipyegon won her first gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in the women’s 1500m.

Although my legs were feeling a little tight, I managed to navigate my way through this strength and conditioning session without injuring myself. As I was aiming to complete my next interval session before I travelled up to Warrington, I spent 30 minutes massaging my legs with my Bob and Brad Q2 Mini Massage Gun.

Wednesday – 32 mins intervals (4 mins warm-up run then 1 min walk/3 mins run x 6 then 4 mins cool-down run) Rest

I had originally aimed to complete my interval session before I travelled up to Warrington, however, after waking up and discovering my calf muscles felt incredibly tight, I decided to take a rest day. I knew I’d be doing a lot of walking while I was in Warrington, and I didn’t want to turn a niggle into a more serious injury.

Following a productive but quite tiring day in the office, I checked into the Village Hotel – next time I’ll make use of the amazing fitness facilities – had a quick nap and a shower, and then met up with a couple of colleagues for an evening meal.

The company was brilliant; however, the main meal I’d ordered was unfortunately disappointing. Although I won’t name and shame the restaurant as this is meant to be a running rather than a flood blog, I won’t be returning there in a hurry.

Thursday – Rest

I made the most of the breakfast buffet, checked out, and then walked to the office ready for a day of face-to-face meetings. Spending time with some of my colleagues made me realise just how much I’ve missed working in an office with other people rather than at home on my own. I live so far from Warrington, that I don’t think travelling up to the Warrington office every day is realistic, but I think I’ll be spending more time in the Birmingham office.

Following another productive day, a few of us headed to The Waterside for a quick drink. The sun made a rare but very welcome appearance, and I felt so relaxed, that I didn’t want to have to spend two hours travelling back to Four Oaks.

I reluctantly walked back to Warrington Bank Quay station, boarded a busier-than-expected train, and woke up just over an hour later at Birmingham New Street station. By the time I got back to Four Oaks, I was feeling so hungry I decided to prioritise eating rather than exercising.

Friday – 32 mins intervals (4 mins warm-up run then 1 min walk/3 mins run x 6 then 4 mins cool-down walk) Strength and Conditioning (Yoga)

I’ll try to keep my Friday musings short as I’m still failing to get overly excited about yoga. I’m blaming my terrible coordination and poor flexibility, but I once again found myself struggling to complete what I suspect should have been a fairly simple and short yoga session. Yoga session complete, I laid out my gear in preparation for my interval session and volunteering at parkrun, ordered myself a healthy(?) takeaway from the local Chinese restaurant, and spent the evening watching more of the World Athletics Championships.

Saturday – Strength and Conditioning (Yoga) 32 mins intervals (4 mins warm-up run then 1 min walk/3 mins run x 6 then 4 mins cool-down walk)

Following on from the success of last week’s 2km run across Sutton Park, I decided to switch my Friday and Saturday training sessions around so that I could complete the final interval session of Week Four in Sutton Park. I estimated that if I started my warm-up run 500m or so before I reached the Jamboree Stone, I’d complete my cool-down walk near Banners Gate. Well, that was the theory, the reality was different.

I’ve no idea if my running pace is a lot faster than the pace my Garmin thinks it should be, but I reached Banners Gate in the middle of my penultimate running repetition. This meant I had to ignore the parkrun Run Director – sorry Rob – as I was worried if I stopped running for a second, I wouldn’t be able to get going again. I ended up having to retrace my steps which was a little embarrassing but at least I got to say hello to the friendly lady a second time. I think I’d stopped looking like a beetroot by the time parkrun started.

For the first time this month, I was able to grab a lift to the Communitea Café in Boldmere after parkrun. The two hours of laughter and discussion about holiday exploits was just what I needed. My Saturday got even better a few hours later when Wolves somehow managed to beat Everton and Faith Kipyegon won her second gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.

Sunday – 4 mins warm-up walk then 3km run then 4 mins cool-down walk

I’m not sure what went wrong, but I somehow managed to ‘diddle’ myself out of a minute of my warm-up walk. By the time I’d noticed what I’d done, rather than attempting to faff around with my Garmin at 5am on a Sunday morning, I decided to carry on with my 3km run.

I’d love to say that after four weeks of training, I found the 3km easy. I didn’t. My legs felt tired after the interval session and parkrun walk I’d completed the previous day, and I struggled to run at a sensible and realistic pace. It’s a good job I managed to avoid any significant hills during the final 1km of my run. I ended my cool-down walk, captured the early morning gloom, and walked home.

My legs were still feeling a little tight, so I worked through my stretching routine and used my massage gun. I then headed back to bed for what was meant to be a couple of hours. At 8am I was woken from what felt like a deep sleep by a WhatsApp alert. This was a good thing as I’d been invited invited myself to participate in a recce of the proposed new route for Sutton Park parkrun.

I like to think my legs appreciated the bonus Sunday morning walks, but after negotiating what felt like a lot of hills in Sutton Park, I’m not so sure. The proposed new route looks great and after five years I’m looking forward to marshalling in some new locations.

I don’t think I’ll be volunteering to marshal by the slightly spooky-looking tree in the middle photo and what I had assumed was an old lamppost in the third photo is apparently a Victorian Stink (or Stench) Pipe. An hour after leaving Sutton Park I mysteriously found myself back in the Giggling Squid in Mere Green.

The food tasted amazing but next time I’m treating my friend to lunch I’ll book us a table somewhere different as it’s time for a change. I’ve just realised how long this weekly update is, so I’ll leave my Sunday update here.

So, that’s the fourth week of the Beginner to 5k training plan more or less successfully completed, just a couple more weeks of training to go.

Week Five of the Beginner to 5k training plan looks quite challenging. I guess it is the penultimate week of the training plan. If I don’t manage to pace the running repetitions of my interval sessions on Tuesday and Thursday and my continuous run on Saturday sensibly, I have a feeling I’ll be back repeating the week. As I’m writing this weekly update I can’t think of any reasons I’ll need to rearrange my training sessions.

Training totals

• Interval runs: 8 (out of 10)
• Time: 4 hrs 32 mins
• Distance: 22.05 miles

Distance based training runs

• 1km: 06 mins 08 secs
• 2km: 12 mins 16 secs
• 3km: 18 mins 56 secs
• 4km: TBC Week 5
• 5km: TBC Week 6 (hopefully!)

Niggleometer

• Right knee: 3/10
• Left knee: 2/10
• Left foot: 2/10

Did you have a good Bank Holiday weekend? I hope that the Bank Holiday weekend weather was better wherever you were than it was in Four Oaks.

Do you think the average pace on Garmins is accurate? I have a strong suspicion my Garmin is lying to me.

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