6 November 2013

Flight and fight

Kirstin Ahmed
Fitness and training blog
7min miles, 8min miles, 90min half marathon, race preparation, running pace, running speed, running training
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Jogging_Woman_in_Grass

OK a brief (I’m sure you are not that interested in my personal training life?!) update:

Running speed is up for longer distances now – knocking out 8-10miles @ 7min 15sec averages this would give me a 1hr 35min half marathon if I ran it today. I would be pleased with the time, however I still have a couple of weeks of training left and think I may be able to do better and get closer to my 7 min mile pace for that distance.

In the meantime an opportunity to pursue my kickboxing training has materialised. I am planning on fighting for the vacant WKMA European women’s kickboxing title on the 21st December – with only 2 months to train for a 7 round full contact fight and a week away racing in Cyprus right in the middle I wasn’t sure if this was wise. However much consideration and discussion has gone into this and I am game on with nothing to loose!

So….without further finger tapping I am back off to the gym now – see ya

9 October 2013

Training update

Kirstin Ahmed
Fitness and training blog
logging runs, run coaching, running pace, running statistics, training diary, training log
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training-update

Training has gone so-so this week. I have started to worry on two counts; Firstly that the half marathon is the day after an 11km hill run and secondly that my half marathon time goal was only achieved by one female runner in this event last year and she was a Common wealth champion!

I managed to kick out a 1hr 20min 10 miler yesterday which although isn’t fast enough was entirely uphill for the first half and still would have given me a 1hr 45min half marathon time assuming an average pace of 8min miles….It’s 7min miles I need to be running so I’m remaining optimistic with 6 weeks training left!

Unfortunately my running companions (2 dogs) are unable to accompany me anymore, the older one who has featured heavily in the “running with wolves” blog series (see much earlier entries) is now 12 and arthritic so despite a huge desire on his part is unable to keep up for more than about 20mins. The other, a 5 year old collie cross who very often is perfect company for these sorts of sessions doesn’t cope well near traffic nor on a lead and I have started to run off AND on road to imitate the race route.

I don’t mind soul searching running, in fact I quite like it, but yesterday I somehow managed to set my Adidas mi coach to report my stats every 1 minute instead of every 10mins. As you can imagine, any thought process and or music track being interrupted every minute by a shrill voice telling you your speed and distance covered would become very annoying, especially as she seemed to take ages to report the info and there was hardly a gap between the end of one report and the start of the next. I practically dreamed in numbers last night!

 

24 December 2011

Running with wolves part II

Kirstin Ahmed
Running
dog as a training companion, exercising your dog, off road running, running pace, running with dogs, training with dogs
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Pepe and I have a new running partner in Ruby a 2 year old collie cross. Ruby is every bit the character filled ball of energy that you would expect from a young collie. Added to which she is also Pepe’s girlfriend, which is probably best discussed on a “inter-species canine loving” type blog rather than here but pertinent to the fact that he pretty much lets her get away with anything she wants. This usually involves high volumes of repeated barking and charging simultaneously at him in an attempt to engage him in play. Pepe is a wise old dog and pretty much knows what these runs entail….undue expenditure of energy is not in his game plan, god forbid he were to lark around and play with his young bit of fluff rather than missing a juicy sniff or pee stop.

Today for some reason was different.
Ruby was a delight for both Pepe and I….she fell into a perfect trot pace from the outset. When the paths were narrow either Ruby or I led, at broader points I had Ruby to my left and Pepe to my right both half a step behind me. Today I didn’t run with music like I usually do, our breaths were rhythmical and it felt good as we worked hard up the hills and through the woods. The air was still and thick, fog still in some places, particles of moisture formed little breath clouds as we exhaled. Each of us helped the other through the run, sometimes Ruby would pace Pepe and I, and sometimes she would hang back to provide him with moral as I carved out our pace and direction. Running with wolves….whatever the pack….is one of the single most raw and pleasurable experiences I know.

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