Fastest run so far, and some weight training too

Submitted by Jon on Tue, 27/11/2007 – 11:28pm

Last night I started weight training again. It was not actually intentional. I had to take some things to the garage, and while I was there, I decided to lift some weights. I did a quick session, and hardly warmed up. I started with seated shoulder presses, warmed up with empty bar, then did 3 sets of 8 at 30kg.

I then moved on to inclined bench presses, again, 3 sets of 8 at 30kg. The last two sets were close grip bench presses, which I had never done before, but as I was using a lighter weight than normal, I decided to give them a go.


Then I finished with barbell curls with 20kg, 2 sets of 8 drag curls then 1 set of 8 standard standing curls.

Felt good to do some weight training. This morning my right triceps were twitching like crazy for a few hours. No idea what that means, but it stopped eventually.

This evening I decided to go for a quick run, so I took my shortest Baddow route. My previous personal best for this route was 13:38 minutes, which I did the last two times I timed it. Tonight I headed out, determined to beat my personal best, and cruised around the route. Well, it felt like cruising up until the point that I developed a stitch on my right side, then it was all gritted teeth and determination to get me around. I finished the route in 13:08, knocking a whopping 30 seconds of my previous time.

Tonight I also wore my new Tchibo thermal vest for the first time. It was embarrassingly tight, but fortunately my running top covered it up OK, and there were few people about anyway!

I may adopt a new approach to my running. Rather than do the longer route, I may start to do two laps of the shorter route. Hopefully this will allow me to keep a closer eye on my speed improvements. If I can do two laps of the short route in 26 minutes, then I will really be on my way to reaching my goal of running 10 miles in less 2 hours!


I actually read an interesting fact today – I think that it was in a copy of Runners World – which gave some figures of the average improvement in running time for every kilo / pound in weight lost. Lighter people run faster. I need to lose some serious weight to improve my speed. I am still about 95kg (which for those still using the imperial system is 209 pounds, or 15 stone.

A few years ago I did manage to get my weight down to 85kg (about 13 1/2 stone) so really my aim is to get back there again. It’ll be tough, but I believe that with a combination of running, weight training and martial arts I can get there. Plus the Great Baddow 10 Mile Charity run is also something to aim for!

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