I have harped on about Marathon Talk countless times in this blog. Having picked up on it at it’s launch I have listened to almost all of Tom Williams and Martin Yellings thoughts, ramblings and musings on running.

Martin Yelling is husband of British Olympian Liz Yelling. He is a coach and is very very passionate about running and getting people into running. To add to the YellingGlobalRunningDomination™ he has added an Audiofuel Interval training design to his arsenal.

Following the same principle as the other audiofuel tracks the bpm derives your footfall and by adjusting this value it’s possible to simulate faster running. It adopts the same concepts as a Spin session at the gym. Martin has introduced his ideal 3 minute pyramid session. The track I have hits 180bpm but pyramids from 160->170->180 TWICE. Talking the runner through the session with verbal hints it forces you to push on where possibly you would give up.

I highlighted the word twice during the previous paragraph as when I did it, it was the second time that pushed me hard. Giving all I had in the fastest 3mins at 180bpm I only had 3 minutes to recover and go round over again – this time knowing exactly what to expect!

18 minutes later I was jogging back to the flat, exhausted and covered in sweat. I didn’t really fancy going out for a run beforehand but when I returned I was buzzing and I had only been out for a relatively short time!

Love these audiofuel tracks, they are great for individual training as I tend to get bored of my standard playlists and these offer a unique edge to what you would expect. Can’t wait to get my hands on the hardest bpm track although will make sure the hospital is on speed dial on my phone before going out on that one!!

Rock on with the next track AF, or maybe I should just stick to the current ones a few more times!

N

Pretty high up on the list of guidelines for times when not to run is when you have a cold. I ignored this, my cold clearly hadn’t reached the worst type of man flu levels and a quick squint at my heart rate earlier that day showed nothing abnormal. Couple that with a hard run on Wednesday when I has similar symptoms and performed fine, I was set to run.

Attempting a similar route to last week headed up-to regents canal. A nice little incline at the start getting the heart beating. As with last time I lost the canal at Islington and couldn’t find the route back so just free ran a bit. I figure if I point in the right direction eventually I’ll find somewhere I know!

After a little while I thought I was eventually lost, reaching Bethnal Green I knew where I was but couldn’t figure how to get back. Following buses I eventually made it, by total accident, to Mile End. I have run past Mile End countless time so I was back to familiar territory, head towards Stratford and then follow the Central Line back home.

Whilst running I took the opportunity to catch up on @MT, I have missed lots and lots of episodes recently but I’m gradually catching up! Unfortunately during the second episode Martin started talking about picking up the pace in the final third of the run. I tried to do this a bit but think this coupled with the gradual incline from Mile End to home finished me off!

Good run though, tough, but expected. There was the added benefit that it was done and I had the weekend to chillax, in particular I had the opportunity to see Chris at the Sports Clinic who sorted my legs!

As I write this(on Monday) I feel fully relaxed, plotting my running week ahead…

Till next time
N

Its midweek and since my long run on Friday night my running trainers have been sitting idle enjoying a rest. Obviously I was on my feet on Sunday for the Leadership in Running Course and I did do a spin session on Monday, however there has been no running.

On Tuesday I went out with my ipod loaded up with a new audiofuel track (review to follow shortly). This was a 43 minute stepped intervals session. After a 155 BPM warm up, you get 3 mins at 160 BPM, then a recovery, 3 mins at 170 BPM, then a recovery, and a 3 min sprint at 180 BPM, then a recovery. This pattern repeats twice. As you can imagine by the second time round things are getting tough and the final 180bpm pushed me HARD.

I tried to push myself equally throughout the run but with roads and crossing and evidently working on a gradient that didn’t turn out to be entirely consistent. That said I pushed my heart rate upto the high 160′s on 5/6 sessions so not too bad! At the end of the run I was suitably destroyed so I was happy!

Wednesday is “club” night and whilst we branched off from the club I still took the opportunity to use the routine of a run. I met up with Rich at his office in Horse Gaurds and having a quick tour whilst we waited for Ath. We set off for a 10miler at an 8:30-8:45 pace, heading around Hyde Park and the onto Sloane Square before heading back along the river. Looking at the splits at the end of the run it looks like we were certainly faster than the 8:30 average and baring a couple of outliers for traffic etc most splits were sub 8:15. Looking back to March time I seem to have done a lot more sub 8 runs however my heart rate now is a lot more stable and up until 8 miles my HR was below 160 in comparison to high 160′s from before.

Rest day today (Thursday) and i’m taking on lemsip to try to force away the cold that seems to be looming. Hope to go out tomorrow or the weekend and have a sports massage booked in for Saturday to get some of the rubbish out of my legs.

Till next time!

N

Today I qualified to be a Leader in Running Fitness through England Athletics. I have been looking at the courses offered a few times but an opportunity came up through my running club and I jumped at it.

The course focused on the qualities needed to provide ‘safe and enjoyable experiences to people of any level of ability, age, size and shape. Whilst most of the information taught was nothing new to me having been a subscriber and regular reader of many mags/forums, it was nice to cement the knowledge and feel able to recommend with confidence.

We were also shown a number of new drills and exercises which would be nice to introduce into some of our sessions varying pace performance and techniques. Maybe if I can get out with my colleagues during the week I’ll try a few of these sessions.

It was good to hear how to possibly overcome newbie boundaries and barriers, how to plan a schedule tailored to the individual runners and review and reassess performance. The barriers were broad, not just fitness related in some cases there maybe cultural and monetary barriers.

As with all running events I have been to I am starting to realise the people involved are on the whole so friendly. They are welcoming and most want otherwise to enjoy their passion as much as they do themselves. Today was no exception, had a great time mixing with fellow serps of varying age, speed etc etc.

I still would like to know more about the body, correct stretches simple self massage but that was beyond the scope of this course.

Anyway, that’s my first qualification for England Athletics completed, feels good!

Due to a booked up weekend I had to shuffle my long run to Friday. A work meal Thursday night ruled out a run in the morning so I was destined to finish a day at work then go for a plod.

On Wednesdays Serps run I was introduced to the canal behind Regents Park. I didn’t know it existed and of course that meant I didn’t know where it went. After I got home I threw up google maps and found out I could theoretically get to either Stratford or Hackney following the waterway. My next route home was formed…

Setting off from work I headed up to the Regents Canal behind the park. I followed the canal through Camden and up past Kings Cross. Unfortunately at Islington the path ended forcing me up into what looked like a council estate I had no idea where I was going. Much like with the Thames Path there was very little guidance as to how to get back on the canal again.

After a little bit of ‘free running’ (not having a clue where I was) I ended up in Islington, which also didn’t help as I have never been there either. Fortunately, by total chance just as I was delving into my bag to find my phone and gps I spotted Angel Station. I know the route to and from Angel as it features on my run to Oxford St. That said it had cut a huge chunk off of my planned route which left me scrabbling to add more distance at the end.

I rang Laura and she headed to gmap to calculate some extensions. Quite easily I tacked a few more miles on by swinging a right off Lea Bridge road and following one of the most dull roads ever*. As well as plotting an extension I had a chat as I ran along. With my sports earphones plugged into my phone I realised I could communicate quite easily. It actually helped me push through a couple of the miles in the middle. Looking at the stats these miles turned out to be my fastest – possibly not ideal but nevermind.

I had thrown a number of gels into my bag in the morning but didn’t put my belt on. This meant I (probably foolishly) didn’t bother with taking any on. However, it didn’t seem to bother me, I had my camelbak so was taking on liquid – perhaps my nutrition during the day was enough!

Eventually I made it home, the use of the canal meant that fortunately my route was pretty much congestion free which was perfect. No niggles or pains and felt pretty damn good when I got home so all is good!

N

*does not compete with Meridian Way Lea Valley

Wednesday is Serpentine night and this week Rich and I had decided to go out for a different route. We had talked about heading out a little earlier and doing 3 parks plus an extension along the Thames. However, just as we were leaving we bumped into a group of people outside who were heading up to Hampstead Heath at a pace we would be able to run at.

I have never done this route before but Rich had and he was full of praise for it and to be honest after only about 1mile I was starting to realise why. We headed towards Regents Park and along the canal behind it, I’ve run around this park numerous times but never knew there was a canal there! The canal path was lovely and nice to know as after a bit of research at home it seems it goes all the way upto Stratford!

After leaving the canal we headed up Primrose Hill, wow that’s a hill but once you reach the top you have the pleasure of an incredible view of London. Again this is something new for me, it seems I really don’t know the north very well! After a quick recovery break we set off up to Hampstead Heath. More hills and certainly more challenges! After a few more miles we headed up Parliament Hill and was rewarded with another beautiful sight of London especially as it was getting dark.

After another rest we headed back to base via Primrose again as a final challenge! The route was 10miles pretty undulating and made a great change to the standard 3 parks run. The hills added an extra challenge and made the run more rewarding! We averaged about 8:20 and looking at the watch stats our fastest mile was the last one – admittedly that was the flattest but needless to say pulling of a sub 8min/mi at 9miles is good to see!

Till next time

N

On Friday night I finally managed it out on a run I could test this app out on. I had already been informed of possibly poor results due to poor GPS on the 3G however the app seemed to do well.

As with the micoach the app was pretty intuitive to set up, the interface feels very similar and merely an extension to the old Nike+ footpod app. It seemed to hook into the satellite pretty quickly and before long I had queued up some music and was running.

To be honest, I don’t like playing or even touching my phone whilst running, I tend to try avoid taking it out as I don’t want to damage it as it’s an expensive bit of kit. With that in mind I shoved it in my pocket and let it be. I got updates through my earphones informing me I hit mile markers. These also informed me of my average pace, a nice touch meaning I didn’t have to play with buttons!

One thing that did annoy me was that when a text came through it seemed to pause the app. This is probably resolved with the newer iPhones that allow multi-tasking but for me I was left puzzled as to what was going on. If it doesn’t pause things on the new phones maybe its worth suggesting going to airplane mode but I guess that would stop the app working, will have to try that next time.

The app turned out to be respectably accurate. I think it came in at under half a mile difference to my Garmin or 10%. Didn’t pay attention to the battery indicator but I’m pretty certain it would have drained it. However, my phones life is already tiny with or without apps running! On completing the run I stopped the workout and it instantly transferred the data to nikeplus.

The nikeplus site is sleek but possibly lacking exact data. It could possibly do with some tables of splits etc as the graph is a bit clunky and basic? Whilst I think the graphs on the Garmin could do with being a little smoother using averages the nikeplus seems a little too smooth!

Anyway in conclusion a nice little app, sadly lacking heart rate functionality and also it still fails to store track listings as they are playing (please Nike just add this feature, I want to see what tracks I run faster too!). It’s a nice alternative to the MiCoach App but does not include voice coaching the main differential between the two.

Let’s see how the battle of running gps phone apps progress as I’m already aware of others in preparation!

N

Whilst I may not have done any LONG runs this weekend has been very running based!

On Friday evening I made my way to Oxford Circus on foot via the longer diverted route. My watch again seems to have played up, however it appears to have logged at 6.4m and I reckon there is a chance of 1/2 mile extra. I got a little bit ‘lost’ once again, failing take the correct left turn I ended up at Fleet St before doubling back on myself. It was a good run, respectable pace and all felt good.

Saturday morning was to be one of those hard runs. After about 6 miles my brain started to tell me to give in, call it a day. Niggles appeared in my right knee, left knee in fact there seemed to be pain wherever I thought about, I got slower and slower and just wasn’t enjoying the run. At 8m I decided to throw in the towel and head back home for the final mile. 9miles eyes bloodshot, I didn’t look or feel good but at least I got a jog in!

A few months back I put my name down to be involved in one of the drinks stations at Nottingham Robin Hood Marathon. Organised by Tom Williams and Martin Yelling of Marathon Talk we were to take the mile 19.5 drink station and turn it into ‘The Motivation Station’.

We left for Nottingham Saturday lunchtime, the chaps had organised a BBQ at the campsite that night, this was a good laugh and great to meet some other marathon talk’ers! There was to be a morning jog on the Sunday and as it was promised to be a slow one I joined. At 7 we left the campsite to start a new route. Heading along the River Trent and into Nottingham we passed the Notts Forest ground before heading up and crossing the finish line. We then plodded back and ended up doing a 7mile jog at av 9min/mi, hardly a recovery run but hey it was enjoyable to be somewhere new with different company!!

After we packed up the tent we made our way over to the National Water Sports Center and started unpacking crates of Lucozade and Water, our volunteer work was beginning and about 2 hours after arriving the first of the runners would start trickling through before the peloton finally arrived, at this point the runners came through thick and fast. The point of the station was not just to supply fluid it was also to help push people through the hardest miles of the marathon and I think we may have done that, as people came through the station they left with a huge smile, impressive especially so far into the run!

I had a cracking day, it was good to be able to give something back as I’m normally the one taking the bottles off of people. It once again made me think how much organisation and preparation goes into something like this! Fortunately the weather was kind for us for both days which made the camping experience all the better. Sometimes it’s nice not to be the runner and be the spectator

Till the next time!!

Neil

On Sunday I had decided to meetup with Rich and tackle a long run. I already had plans to go and support Laura and her mum at the adidas 5k so in order to fit in a session I set my alarm for the crack of dawn and at 6:30 I was heading to the station en route to Kennington.

I arrived after much waiting for non-existent Sunday services at 740 to see Rich standing at the station ready to go. Off we plodded trying much harder to stick to the promised 8:45-9 min mi pace. Heading up through Elephant & Castle towards the Tower before swinging right up to Greenwich. The pace was steady but after about 30minutes I was confused by my watch distance. It was displaying a distance much greater than we had covered – odd as it was normally so accurate. I found it peculiar but just ignored it, however it got a wider and wider gap. It wasn’t till I sat down later that day did I realise that the distance was reporting in metric (kms) whilst every other display in statues (mph).

We headed through the Greenwich foot tunnel crossing us back onto the right side of the river before making our way upto lambeth and Hyde park. Evidently whilst playing around with my watch I also paused it mid run meaning I lost 15 odd minutes of data or almost 2 miles. At the point we separated I think we had covered around 16miles and looking at the information the last few miles were possibly faster than the start! I added on a little bit more probably bringing me upto 17.5/18mi and then went to watch the race.

As official bag carrier of the day it was my duty and honour to spectate and watch Laura run round. She seemed to have a great time this year and she did really well taking a massive amount of time off last years run. Most importantly I think she enjoyed it, which I’m really pleased about

As i’m writing this post so late in the week I suppose I should mention how on Monday I fell out of the office door, twisting over on my foot and hence resulting in a lot of pain. Since then I have taken a few rest days to allow all to recover, fortunately today all felt good.

N

Rather unsurprisingly and just over one month after the release of the adidas MiCoach GPS app Nike have released an alternative. This morning I got an email from nike informing me as a nike+ member I should be the first to know about the nike+ iphone gps app and like a sucker to technology I went off to read all about it and check it out.

I was hoping that this would be the first of the two to join Heart Rate Monitor and GPS as I assumed the newer iphonescould interact with the device but alas, this still seems to be lacking from the build. Although it has led me to question whether the iphone 3gs/4 has Heart Rate facility? Answer in the comments below if you know! Anyway, over to the app itself – oddly they have charged £1.19, peculiar considering the Adidas one is free, I also would have expected some hype and fanfare over the app maybe free for ‘x’ days to get people aware of it, maybe that campaign is still to come however if you had paid and then they made it free I guess you’d be a bit annoyed!

Following a foolish stumble out of the office door last night I am not able to get out and test this app with a run today as I may have liked to have done. Apparently the GPS on the iphone 3 is nowhere near as good as on the newer phones, however I guess it should be as accurate as the micoach review from before. I guess in order to get to the real detail with these reviews I need to get a play with the iPhone 4 but in order to do that the cost somewhat outweighs that of buying a new Garmin!

The install of the app was pretty easy, the user interface felt much like that I was used to from my Nike+ of old. Nike+ saw me through many miles and up until March time I used it almost religiously racking up over 1000miles on the system, however I stopped using it finding my Garmin a lot more usable and accurate – the GPS version *should* rectify this! Fortunately for Nike its website in my mind is spot on, funky and very neat. The graphs presented are clever, albeit a bit difficult to understand, they could show the results in a slightly more obvious manner. I always disliked the fact that it didn’t store information about what track was being played but other than that it did everything that could be expected from an accelerometer.

The iPhone app seems to mimic the colour scheme and feel of the website creating a simple to use experience. Within minutes I had logged onto my online profile and was ready to start the app going. I decided to “go for a run”, which actually meant walking back from lunch which apparently took me 0.2 miles just to see if it worked. The interface was good, allowing the phone to be locked whilst showing useful information, it also appeared that you can get information to be spoken to you in different intervals. Once i clicked stop on the app it seemed to upload it automatically and it appeared on my nikeplus.com profile.

Obviously have been playing with social media for quite some while feeding into twitter and facebook neatly and cleverly, something that adidas micoach to work on and also having a quick squint at the webpage I can get the information and build my own interface for it – Perfect!! Should be a good test when I next get out for a run. I’m sure it will kill my battery so its only going to get a 4miler or so and as mentioned already I’m not expecting too much from its accuracy due to the phone not the app. Update to feature soon when I have actually gone for a run!

Also when I get a few mins free time I think im going to dig out my API attempt last time to facilitate a wordpress plugin or sorts for it. If there is demand for this out there please comment and I’ll get it going sooner rather than later!

Till next time.