I’ve been off work the past couple of weeks and so have taken the opportunity to start running again. I used to run regularly pre-Covid but ever since, the longest stint of regular running has been about a month. I’ve still been somewhat active the past few years with playing lots of table tennis but it doesn’t quite have the same fitness benefits.
For the first week I ran every run at a comfortable pace. I used my watch to track my heart rate and stayed in zone 2 for the most part, I generally felt good, my breathing was very controlled. However, my limitation was the strength in my legs I feel, the first few days I could tell that I hadn’t run in some time. As the week went on though it felt more natural and was comfortable throughout the runs.
I ended up running every weekday, averaging about 5km a day roughly at 7:30min/km pace.
On Monday I ran another easy run, it ended up being a bit faster - closer to 7min/km pace which I think was just my legs being a bit fresher after a weekend off.
With the plan of doing a Parkrun on Saturday (at the time of writing - tomorrow) to set a benchmark, I wanted to do some sort of workout. I’ve previously enjoyed fartleks, continuous running with intervals of varying paces, so set out to do 10x 2 mins faster and 1 min slower. The faster pace shouldn’t be too fast but comfortably hard - I think I went too fast.
My faster periods averaged at around the 5min/km mark which 4 years ago was comfortable. However, having come back to running previously over the past couple of years, this or perhaps a little slower is what I would expect my 5k pace to be at.
Today (Friday) I ran another comfortable run after a couple of days of rest. It was at a similar pace to previous runs but I did notice that my heart rate was slightly lower. I’ll have to see tomorrow where I’m truly at.
The Leagues Cup is a inter-local-league competition in a 2 player team format. I was representing the Peterborough league with a player from another team.
This was the first regional round so we were competing against “local” local leagues: Norwich (the host league), Wembley & Harrow, and Luton. Both Norwich and Wembley were very strong teams with players all ranked in the top 150 in England. I don’t think either myself or my teamate won a single leg. Nonetheless, we had some good games and it’s all good experience.
Our best matchup was with Luton, I’d played one of their players before so roughly knew their level. Our previous match was a close 5 setter where I had won the first 2, unfortuntely I did end up losing that match.
My first match was against the player I hadn’t played, it was a back and forth match, but yet again, I lost a 5 setter. My second was then the rematch for the previous game the other week, I went 2-0 up again as I had before. However, unlike the previous match, I kept on going and won it 3-0.
I believe that if I had played the way in my second match then I would’ve won the first. In the first game, my opponent really exposed me on my backhand (especially with long serves), and won a lot of cheap points with it. But, in my second game I was more consistent and focussed on playing at 80% and going for consistency over top end power/spin.
Sunday was not my finest day for table tennis. I only played in the men’s singles and got knocked out in my group… As some consolation, it was the toughest group based on seeding.
I was the third seed in the group, lost comfortably to the top 2 with some good points throughout. However, I also lost to the fourth seed who I haven’t lost to recently (only the first time I played them).
I’ve had gym memberships in the past but never really stuck with them but I’d like to start doing some sort of strength and conditioning. I’m not a fan of machines and standard gyms to have been looking for alternatives. I’d heard of Crossfit before but have now had a look into the ideas behind it and I think it resonates with the goals I have. So, I’ve enquired at a Crossfit Gym in a local village to me about getting started and they said there is a free session available to try it out. I haven’t gone yet, but plan to next week.
I also brought my road bike out of the garage for the first time in months the other day to clean it up. Perhaps I’ll mix the running with some cycling but I’m not too sure yet. Lots of ideas, I’m just trying to not get too far ahead of myself…