Good morning. As always, I hope whoever takes the time to read this weekly life and training update had an amazing weekend. If, for whatever reason, your weekend wasn’t great, I hope the next seven days are more positive. My weekend had a couple of highlights; a sociable Sutton Park parkrun and running for 20 minutes without taking a walking break.
The NHS Live Well website provided the following information about the interval sessions in Week 5 of the Couch to 5k training plan.
Like the last time I attempted the fifth week of the Couch to 5k, I looked forward to tackling three different training sessions. I ensured the training sessions were saved on my Garmin and wasted a lot of time worrying about running for 20 minutes.
My Tuesday interval session and Sunday morning 20-minute run started with reasonably speedy 5-minute warm-up walks and ended with slower 5-minute cool-down walks. I supplemented the interval session and 20-minute run with cross-training sessions on Monday and Saturday and with rest days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
As I’d love to complete the Couch to 5k before the end of the year, I allocated time every day to stretching. In addition, I used my Bob and Brad Q2 Mini Massage Gun to massage my quads and calf muscles before each interval session and whenever I felt my legs would benefit from an extra massage.
Monday – 30 mins cross training
I’d booked Monday off as annual leave, so what I hoped would be a successful week of training got off to a positive start. I tackled some household chores and ordered some Ch**tmas presents. My review of Week 4 of my Couch to 5k training was published and quite possibly read by the grand total of five people. I hate to admit it, but it feels like my blog needs to be retired in 2025.
Shortly before lunch I power walked to the Quill and Taper as I’d arranged to meet Mum for a slightly belated birthday meal and catch-up. As I was having some issues with my lower back, I figured my speedy walks to and back home from the Quill and Taper could count as a knee and back friendly form of cross-training.
Whereas the food the previous Wednesday had been somewhat disappointing, my Royale Chicken Tikka Masala tasted better than it looked.
Apologies for the terrible photo. I still feel incredibly self-conscious when I’m trying to take photos of food in public. Mum assured me that the Chicken Caesar Salad she’d ordered tasted as good as it looked. I didn’t get a photo.
Tuesday – 21 mins intervals (run 5 mins/walk 3 mins/run 5 mins/walk 3 mins/run 5 mins)
I didn’t bother setting a 5:30am alarm as I knew from past experience I wouldn’t have the motivation to run before work. It was sadly a case of back to work, back to more problems with my work laptop and a lot of meetings. I failed to complete a lunchtime walk as I was waiting for a delivery, and I knew I’d be completing an interval session in the evening.
I finished work in the dark which is always a bit of a shock to the system. I packaged a couple of eBay sales and cooked myself pizza for dinner. And what about the interval session? After a day of too much sitting and not a lot of movement, everything was feeling a little tight, so I got changed into some running gear, dug out my massage gun, and massaged my quads and calf muscles.
The first interval session of the week wasn’t a success. It was far milder than I was expecting, and I quickly realised I was wearing too many layers. Midway through the interval session my calf and foot issues made an unwelcome reappearance. Although I was certain my laces weren’t too tight, by the time I reached the end of the 21 minutes I had pins and needles in my left foot.
I captured a slightly grumpy selfie, loosened both of my laces, made a mental note to mention the problems with my foot to Lina during my osteopathy appointment on Thursday, and started to walk home. I must admit that at this stage running for 20 minutes felt like an impossible task.
Wednesday – Rest
This weekly update has already turned into one of my essays, so as Wednesday was a rest day, I’ll fast forward to Thursday.
Thursday – 21 mins intervals (run 8 mins/walk 5 mins/run 8 mins) Rest
As I had an osteopathy appointment at Ebrook Osteopathy and Sports Clinic in Sutton Coldfield immediately after work and it was also Halloween, sensible people would have completed their interval session before work. I’ve said it a million times before, but I’m most definitely not what could be described as sensible.
In order to get to Sutton Coldfield by train in plenty of time for my 4:15pm osteopathy appointment, I had to finish work at 3pm and power walk to Blake Street station. While I was waiting for my train I worked out my last osteopathy appointment had been back in August. I knew that given the recent issues with my calf muscles and knees, any treatment was likely to be painful.
After I’d spent some time trying to describe what I thought might be the cause and pinpointing the location of my various niggles, Lina got to work. I can honestly say I’ve never experienced such a painful leg and lower back massage. At one point my eyes were watering and I was desperately trying not to cry out due to the pain.
The 45-minute appointment passed by quickly, and my lower back and legs felt a million times better at the end of the treatment. I booked another appointment for four weeks’ time, paid, and more by luck than judgement managed to get straight on a train that was travelling towards Lichfield. I think it was inevitable I wouldn’t feel like attempting an interval session after having an osteopathy appointment.
Friday – Rest
At the start of each month, I like to set myself a couple of goals. My goals for November are straightforward; to walk (any running mileage will count towards this target) 100 miles and to record some sort of training every day. I’m a little ashamed to admit I almost ‘failed’ one of these goals on the first day of the month. Anyway, as this weekly update has got longer than I originally anticipated, and as, with the exception of a lunchtime stroll, Friday was a third consecutive rest day, I’ll fast forward to the weekend.
Saturday – 30 mins cross training
I wasn’t volunteering at parkrun, so it was unfortunate I completely forgot to switch off my ‘parkrun alarm’. The 6:30am wakeup call wasn’t very welcome and like last week, I was feeling so shattered had I not arranged to meet up with Ellen, I would have gone back to bed. Sorry, that’s more than enough complaining about alarms and feeling tired. I love how popular Sutton Park parkrun has become, even on a gloomy November morning.
I met up with Ellen, we had a quick catch-up listened to the pre-event briefings, and then agreed to powerwalk and run at a more sedate pace than last week. Our more sensible efforts were rewarded with another sub-45 minute time and some homemade cookies courtesy of the Sutton Coldfield Sea Cadets.
I was dropped home, had a shower, and like last Saturday went into ‘getting sh*t done’ mode. I won’t bore you with details of cleaning and gardening. I spent a fair amount of time stressing about attempting to run for 20 minutes. Following yet another quiet Saturday evening I ensured my alarm was set, laid out some running gear, and headed to bed at 9pm.
Sunday – 20 mins running with no walking
My alarm woke me at 6am and I lay in bed in the dark for a couple of minutes contemplating staying in bed. I decided running in the morning would increase the likelihood of me actually completing a 20-minute run, so I dragged myself out of bed. I got changed into the running gear I’d laid out the previous evening, worked through some strength and conditioning exercises, had a productive loo visit, drank some water, and headed outside into the dark.
I completed my warm-up walk, checked my laces weren’t feeling too tight, selected the latest album from Sunglasses Kid, and started to run. I was mindful that I’d missed a few too many training sessions and that the last time I ran for 20 minutes I set out at a pace that turned out to be far too ambitious for my fitness levels. Everything was going well, and I was maintaining a sensible running pace until Badge and Gun started to play and my pace increased. The second half of the run was slightly less enjoyable, but I made it to the end of the 20 minutes feeling strong.
I spent a couple of minutes reflecting on what had been a successful and also pain-free run, completed my cool-down walk, and then headed home. I got home, drank a couple of glasses of chocolate milk massaged my calf muscles. As it was too late for me to head back to bed, I decided to make a start on my Sunday ‘to do’ list.
So that’s the fifth week of the Couch to 5k training plan not exactly completed. At least, despite some dubious pacing, I managed to run for 20 minutes without needing to walk. The sixth week of the Couch to 5k looks challenging and I’m aware that my lack of recent consistent training might come back to haunt me. As the duration of the longest continuous run increases from 20 to 25 minutes, I might complete the run at Beacon parkrun.
Training totals:
Niggleometer:
I would love to complete the New York Marathon. If money was no object, which races would you love to complete?
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen I’m aiming to complete 50 parkruns in 2025. What’s the most parkruns you’ve completed in a year.
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