First Snow fall of Winter

We had a small amount of over night snow leading me to dig out my Inov 8 Roclite shoes for this morning's run. The temperature in Bury St Edmunds has been sat around 0c or 32f for the last few days and snow has threatened but so far fell in the North East of England. Looks as if we could have some heavier snow showers later on this week and the cold weather is set to stick around until next Tuesday.

The Inov 8 Roclite shoes have a good studded tread pattern and I am pretty confident in running in these without slipping. As ever getting out of the front door is the hardest part of running in cold weather. The thought of the snow and cold is far worse than the actual experience which was pretty enjoyable. Only my hands were a little cold my thin gloves not being sufficient thermal protection to keep these warm.

Runability - New Specialist Running Shop

It has been some years since Bury St Edmunds has been fortunate enough to have its own specialist shop catering for runners. There are 1-2 general purpose sports shops but nothing which caters directly for the runner.

That's all changed now that we have Runability in St Johns Street Bury St Edmunds. Its down the hill on the right hand side more or less before you get to the fish and chip shop.The shop has only been open a couple of weeks or so and is still gearing it self up in terms of new media presence - website etc. However I paid a visit today as I needed a hat. It was really cold and frosty this morning and my previous hat had lost its elastication and kept falling off in strong winds. So I bought a Ron Hill beanie hat.

There is already a good range of running shoes for men and women and a gait analysis machine to help you choose the right type. Loads of  bright winter wear to keep you safe and lots of gels which again have been something often hard to find in Bury St Edmunds.

Hopefully all locals will pay a visit and support this new store as it is great to finally have a running shop in Bury St Edmunds.

Running Track Session at the west Suffolk Sports Centre

Two weeks ago I  I said that I intended visiting the track once a week every Wednesday from now on. Of course as soon as I said this I came down with a heavy cold and I missed last weeks track session.

However I made tonight's session and there was a healthy number of runners and spectators at the track.  As per usual I ran down to the track which is 3/4 of a mile and then warmed up further by doing 6 laps at a steady easy pace.

Tonight's session by the coach  included 2 sets of 4 x 3minutes followed by 2 x 3minutes and then a mile time trial. I am still getting used to being back at the track ( at least that is my excuse ) and so I dipped out after the 2 sets of 4 x 3 Min's. This gave me a total of 24 minutes of interval running at 10k pace which I ran at an average of 7.23 miles.

Two weeks ago at the track I did 20 minutes of interval running so my gradually stepping up of time on the track is logical and deliberately gradual. I did feel as if I could have done the extra 2 x 3 Min's but gave it a miss as I just want to avoid any more injuries at least this year.

Another Short Run

My run today was better than yesterday. For a start the weather was a lot better still breezy but no rain, still cool enough for gloves. My running was better I felt a little quicker and my breathing was better. All in all everything was better.

I knocked out a 3 miler in 26.38 which is just under 9 min miles. LIstened to the Zenrunner on the podcast over at Planet Tinkoff.

Wet & Windy Monday Run

After much procrastination and delay whilst I watched never ceasing wind and rain I eventually decided that I needed to get out for a run regardless of the conditions. I have just got over a week when I have had a head cold which has laid me low as far as running is concerned.

However today I finally felt better and with just the weather to contend with I decided to do a very short run. It was a hat , gloves and tracksters kind of day. It was windy enough that I lost my hat at one point and from then on I had to regularly pull down on the hat to keep it on.

I did just 2.5 miles as I felt really rusty not having run for a week. But the main thing was venturing out for a run on such a wet and windy day rather than the distance.