Unsurprisingly for anyone who knows what happened to me on Sunday this post has taken a long time to come and to be honest there was question and doubt as to whether I should write it at all. Sadly there are no photo’s of me crossing the finishing line or with a big grin and a finishers medal and in just a few paragraphs I’m going to say what happened (or what I know of it…).

The day started off as planned, the clothes sorted the night before, breakfast eaten and Laura and I set off for the tube at 7am. Heading into London I got to Greenwich DLR and made the Green Start by 9am. Plenty of time to get prepared and relaxed, we had been allocated a tent to stand in so when the rain came we were sheltered.

At 9:45 the race started and off we went, I deliberately knew to hold back on my pace so this year I made a conservative effort to get my pace in around the 8:35 pace and all of my splits give or take hovered around this marker. Sadly – what I didn’t pay attention to is the Heart Rate… » Continue reading “Virgin London Marathon: The Post Mortem”

420 miles covered, gallons of energy drinks consumed and several energy gels swallowed all in order to train for the one of the biggest marathons in the world.

This post maybe better suited following the run but I think the huge amount of training that I have done is easily lost in the glory (or not!) of the big day itself. Therefore, after 16 weeks of training unlike anything I have ever done before, and yes I did run the marathon last year, I am going to share my ups and downs since January 1 2010.

I was fortunate to get a place in this years marathon around September time, for the months leading up to the new year I knew I ought to go out for a run but I didn’t. Luckily, I still hadn’t lost fitness and on an initial ‘tester’ run I managed a half marathon distance, it was tough but a good footing for the months to come. At the beginning of the year I had an email from Runners World stating 16 weeks to go, so I decided this year I would take a schedule and stick to it…for 16 weeks!
» Continue reading “Virgin London Mararthon: Before…”

Today I was listed as doing a relatively short interval session. I opted to hit the dreadmill to control the intervals so during lunch I headed to the gym. 8x400m with 200m recovery was all that was listed today and after 20 or so my run was complete. Stayed on the treadmill till 5km was completed then I treated myself to 10mins in the sauna.

4m jog listed for tomorrow. Will try get that done in the morning or if not during lunch again. Also off to the expo to get my number – it’s almost time!!

Till then.

N

Following recommendations from a few people I shortened my final run to the local ‘classic’ route. The schedule listed 12 miles which most people thought was mentally far and in fairness in that run it’s too late to improve fitness or ability and there is a greater risk of becoming injured and increasing recovery time.

I set out on Saturday am with the camelbak and one spare gel to see me through the run. It was a sunny morning but still early enough to be a little chilly. The run went perfectly, no real issues and stuck to the pace recommended in the schedule. I added the extra 2 mile segment onto the journey resulting in a 9 mile run.

That’s it now for runs over an hour until the big one! Busy week ahead, expo, final massage as well as other bits and bobs. 15 weeks of fairly structured training. Over the next week I hope to write a blog highlighting all I have achieved including the races and hundreds of miles covered.

See mile splits

Until next time.

N

Schedule listed having to do 3 miles at 8min mile pace, before heading out I was a little sceptical about this. It has been a while since I have done any threshold stuff due to knee problems etc but was willing to give it a whirl.

Being only a short distance I knew I’d be able to cover it over a lunch break so just when my stomach was telling me to eat lunch I went to get changed and head for a run. Not one to do much in the way of warmup I set off at a fast pace and plodded on for 3 miles. As it turns out I had nothing to worry about clocking in sub 7:30min miles for the first 3 and then after forcing myself to slow down a bit for the final mile an 8:08min/mi. I actually felt pretty good which is a result and I’m happy

See mile splits

12mile at a reasonable pace at the weekend. Certainly not race pace but faster than the scheduled long slow run speed.

Not sure what the weather will be like still next week as it’s soooo temperamental at the moment!

Till next time.

N

Following an extended rest break due to catching the dreaded man flu (sniffly nose, no sleep etc – you know the one!) I went out for the first run of week 15 today.

Accompanied by Adam, Dan and Darren we set off for a five mile lunchtime jog around the block. I haven’t run with colleagues for a while now the last time was an evening run and to be honest today made a nice change. Whilst it’s not identical to routes we used to do there were familiar spots and it all seemed so much easier than the years past when we ran it.

No niggles today which was lovely, little bit chilly but out in shorts again so hopefully a good test for a weeks time. Average pace of 9min/mi which I was happy with have a tougher run tomorrow with some 8min/mi splits – should be interesting!

Till tomorrow.

N

The sun is out! On Saturday I have planed to run a gentle warmup for Sundays run and then go for a swim with Laura. The local pool is 3 or so miles away so it made sense to have a very gentle jog over to her before jumping in the pool for a few laps. Shorts finally out and it was lovely to run in the sun. No real issue on Sat but then again it wasn’t far! Good swim and then off for a relaxing afternoon, and some garden nursery time!

The schedule lists 18M for Sunday, and fortunately, Oliver, who I have run with before on a previous long run had volunteered to accompany me for a portion of today’s run. I had planned to meet him at Mile End and head round the 2012 Park and back to the flat, unfortunately things don’t always go to plan! At Mile End I saw Olly and he was already a little out of breath – thanks to TFL the route was to change, the central line was out between Liv St and Leytonstone and he had run down to meet me from Tower Hill! He had already covered 2.5 Miles to meet me and obviously I didn’t want to send him off on a 12 mile run! We doubled back towards the Olympic Stadium and I took him along the Greenway, hogging the side of the park.

My goal was to end up at Leyton as I wasn’t sure if it was planned engineering or a disruption to service, unfortunately it was the former and we had to carry onto Stratford where he would be able to continue on National Rail. I think it was hit Stratford after about 10miles for him (inc his first bit) and he seemed happy. He’s a good runner, wouldn’t take much to push him through a fast half marathon I don’t think! At Stratford, we parted ways and I headed home. I was 13 or so miles in so new the route home would cover the remaining 5 miles perfectly.

The run was certainly hot – the final two or three miles where a bit of a challenge as I’m not sure I had drunk enough – that said I followed my plans and run at a 9min/mi average pace so hopefully recovery time this week should be shorter! Lets hope that the temp falls a little bit otherwise we may have the same as last year on the big day!!

See mile splits

Woo that’s the last serious distance covered and it went well so brilliant! Rest day tomorrow

Till next time

10miles scheduled for today and that meant the standard run to Ox Circus. Flicking through my diary now this is the last long midweek run and the last time I’ll have to run up the hill on lea bridge road for a while!

Following a restless night sleep I set off out of the flat at 730. I know the route now without even thinking about it, as usual the first mile sent my heart-rate through the roof and I questioned what I was doing (just to fill you in the first mile is a very slow incline but a bugger to start with!).

Right now I’m struggling to think of anything eventful during the run so can only assume that is a good thing as obv there was no pain or issues! I didn’t check what pace I should have been doing today at and after looking annoyingly I was down a little bit. Hopefully not an issue but that said I haven’t done a street speed session for a little while so need to consider going out and widening my stride a bit.

18M scheduled for this weekend need to slow it down on that one so as not to kill me for the following week!

Till then.

N

Having suffered from a bit of a dodgy tummy on Tues night and during the day weds I was slightly apprehensive about this run but as it turns out baring a moment about 1/2mile from home there was nothing to worry about.

Legs still feeling quite heavy I set off from Stratford to home which is 5 miles. Fortunately unlike the last time I did it the rain held off and the weather was quite nice – also following the clock changes a few weeks back it’s much nicer running at 7pm and it still being light. The sched said 6M in 58mins which I did. Guessing that’s a 9:30 pace and I certainly was under that.

Long soak in the bath following that and an early night. Thursday was the longer run of the week and it was going to have to be a morning run due to eve commitments.

Reasonable run, heart rate quite low – nothing overly challenging.

N

Long day at work meant I didn’t want to get up early for a run so I had to factor it into my working da which meant only one thing a lunchtime dreadmill session at the gym.

Limited by time I covered 6.5km interval-ling between 12&14.5km/h. Was fast but not too bad. Warm down stretches and back to work in under an hour…slightly longer run tomorrow.