The last post I wrote had me complaining about having heavy legs following the 10k, since that point I did a fastish treadmill session in the gym on Thursday clocking up 6kms which was again felt heavy and on Saturday morning I went for my 3M ‘easy’ run around the block as a warmup. Fortunately the rest day on Friday seemed to go someway to help with the recovery of my legs and Saturdays run felt much better. However as a bonus I was booked into see Chris over at the sports clinic for a 20min session on my legs – perfect pre race massage!

The massage was excellent and left my legs feeling a lot better than earlier and with the added knowledge that I wasn’t showing any real signs of damage I left the clinic ready for Sundays run, although at that point I hadn’t decided whether to race or just take it as a training run, although Chris did say as I left – go and crack 1:45, i’m sure you can.

Sunday arrived and with all the negative press that Silverstone seems to receive I don’t think I was looking forward to it as much as I possibly should – reports of difficulties getting in and out of the course on top of a dull circuit filled me with a bit of dread on the 1 and a bit hour drive. Fortunately, as always, Laura offered to come along and do the driving as well as watch from the sidelines and take photos, this is always a blessing – to have company before and after an event is perfect as it stops me stressing and getting worked up, not what you need before a race!

We got to Silverstone at about 1015 ish, plenty early for the noon start. We pottered down to the start areas and had a look at the shops before I started the lengthy process of sorting out my kit. Gel belt, heart rate monitor, pre-race isotonic drink, toilet break, banana….this routine takes almost as long as running the race but I find it works so I may as well stick to it. At 11:15 over the tannoy we were ushered into the pens, so I left my hoody with Laura and headed in – bad move. It was actually pretty damn cold still and I realised at this point I would be hanging around for 45mins without a jumper – did they really need 45mins to enter pens? On top of this because I got cold my body decided it needed the loo but I decided to hold it, if I needed to go during the route I would grudgingly have to stop!

Bang on midday Martin Yelling started the race and we were off – as usual I set off faster than I had really intended on and found myself running with the sub 8min runners. I tried to take the pace down a bit but judging by my Garmin that didn’t really happen! I managed to maintain a sub 8min/mi for the whole course – averaging 07:43 min/mi and according to my chip time I came in at 1:41:52 a new PB knocking 6 1/2 mins off my previous PB of 3 weeks prior (Laura – you were right I did a 1:48) and amazingly about 20mins off my Half Mara time of last year. On top of that my 10k chip time was sub 45 mins @ 44:15 another PB for me!

Obviously as I hit PB’s the run was incredible for me – it was tough but it wasn’t a killer I’m not sure I had another half in my legs at that speed but that is to be expected really! Marathon training is going well this year All in all a great run, wide course with no bottlenecks which is perfect! Would I do it again? If i was chasing a PB again then possibly, if I was going for scenery then probably not!See 19Mile Splits

Chip Timer Splits
Split Time
5K 00:23:25
10K 00:44:15
15K 01:11:25
20K 01:35:07

place (total) 671
place (gender) 614
place (cat) 484
finish time 01:41:52
http://silverstone.r.mikatiming.de/2010/index.php?content=detail&type=&id=0000030F5ECC83000005416E&lang=EN&event=SVRM&ageclass=

The schedule had me down for a 9 miler today but again due to prior commitments I could only fit in a shorter hour long run of about 7miles-ish.

The run was really tough today, my legs felt really heavy and not in great form. The whole run dragged and as soon as I got out of the door I wanted to give up. Looking at the watch stats I hovered around an 8:45 pace which is surprisingly fast considering how I thought I was moving!

Hopefully in the next 24 hours my legs recover a bit and am looking forward to Saturdays Sports Massage with Chris to hopefully relieve some of the tension in my muscles!

HavensRunners got a mini plug on the marathontalk.com podcast this week, they are sending people that way for the London Marathon Route Map. If you haven’t listened to the podcast check it out I find it a good thing to use whilst on my longer slower runs and also if you haven’t seen the map check it out and send a link to your supporters to let them know when to expect you!

Till next time.

N

Having taken yesterday as a well earned rest day (I even skipped spinning!) today I was hoping to be back in full form and legs fully recovered.

Finding only time for a quick lunchtime treadmill session I queued up my ok go interval track and did 30mins covering over 6km. Slightly short on the recommended amount for today but I’m sure that’s not to much of an issue. The bigger problem I had today was a mental one. Once again my brain was questioning what I’m doing but that could just be because it was on a treadmill and following a busy running week last week!

One other thing which I have decided today after opening my gym bag, sadly one of my pairs of trainers will not be held onto for anecdotal purposes as they absolutely stink!!! I put that down to this season being a very wet one and having done a substantial number of puddle running, it’s a shame web scratch and sniff doesn’t exist – although I’d question anyone that actually scratched!!

9miles scheduled for the morning which I will hopefully do early on a local loop. Till then.

N

My normal weekend routine of a long Sunday run had to be switched round this week as a while back I decided to enter a new 10k run starting locally and heading into the Olympic Village. A few months ago I did a couple of sessions running along the Greenway and by the Olympic Stadium and love the fact that the olympics will literally be around the corner so decided this run maybe fun and unique.

A 10k run was not however helpful with regards to my training schedule so I had to bring my long run forward to the Saturday. 18miles was the distance required according to the schedule and on a blue sky morning I set off for a local 7M loop before proceeding onwards towards my nans flat in Kennington, 11M away and the other side of the river. Following Thursdays run to my dads office he suggested I run and keep my heart rate down which may allow me to push further as historically I’m not great at maintaining speed. Taking that into account I said my garmin onto ‘Heart Rate’ mode with a max H/r of 164 and a min of 155 (I think!). For the next 2hrs40 mins, bating the first mile or so stayed within the zones only dropping low whilst waiting to cross at traffic lights. The run itself went pretty well with every mile coming in at sub 8min 50, some by quite a bit. The 19th mile was a bit lethargic and slow but I think that’s cause I hadn’t prepared my brain for it! It was great to be out in the sun even though it wad still cold – I think that’s the first blue sky running I’ve done since this marathon training began! 19M conquered leaving only 3M more to do in training and 7 on the day with a few weeks to go. Amazingly this week I managed to run 55 miles at varying speeds and intensities, this was because I had to switch the days of the long run over otherwise it would have dropped down to 36 miles (guess next week will be less ) I find that incredible and I think that is the most I have run in a week.

See 19Mile Splits

Sundays 10k was a race and against my what my brain told me I should do I went for it pushed on by my male ego (plus I was running with a friend who I know wouldn’t go slow)! Another week, another race and another PB with my 10k time coming in at 46:07 taking off about 40seconds off my previous best – running 6Miles at a sub 7min32sec pace – guess you could call that a threshold run! Awesome stuff – think the next stage (sub 45) is a little way off, taking off 67 seconds over 10k is a big push – I would need to have a constant pace of 7min 15sec miles and none of my splits hit that – even the first one which felt mentally fast! Oh well, 10k’s aren’t really for now so back to the long runs! Well done for Soo on that one, incredible running coming in just behind me by about 10 seconds and also having the stamina left in his body for a 200m sprint at the end! Good Effort.

See Newham 10k Splits

Till Next time

The schedule has me doing an 8mile quick(ish) and and 9mile steady. In typical fashion I loosely followed this, I managed a 7 mile lunchtime run on weds at a fast pace. The garmin tracked the run at 8min mile av, however, that did incorporate a 1mile downhill which had I did in 7:40, clearly faster than normal and I could expect on a flat! No issues with the run, short and sweet which is the way I like it

Thurs morn was listed as a 9miler which I decided to do as a morn run towards work. Having pre-arranged giving my bag to my dad so the run was from home-ox circus. The run checked in at 11 miles and before starting for some reason I always thought it was going to be less, even though I have already run it a number of time. My run time was good, was deliberately trying to slow my pace down to race pace but was still up on that. Think I averaged 8:36 (race pace is looking to be sub 9). Calves felt a little tight at the end and on the whole my body fealt a bit tired but all good miles and it wasn’t a race!

Think on Saturdays long run I’m going to look at the heart rate function of my watch and set it to force me to run based on that as it may slow me down a bit, will spend some time looking at my garmin data to work out a race pace heart rate. Need to invest some time pacing myself and ensuring I don’t end up overdoing the first half.

As I just said, Saturday marks an 18miler, shifted from the normal Sunday run this is because for some reason I decided to enter the ‘Newham 10k’. It turns out this is completely unhelpful for my schedule but it’s local and I get to see and run round the 2012 Olympic Park which should be cool. Don’t intend on coming close to my pb on that as it is really going to be a recovery run following Saturdays long slow run.

Rest day tomorrow, wooo

N

I’ll be the first to admit my last few weeks of training, whilst banking plenty of miles, have not been to close to the schedule during the week. However, today’s run was spot on the requirement: 14*200meter intervals with 100meter recovery. Looking at the quick conversion maths I had to do to
put this in my Garmin I was slightly out in meaning I actually did 14*250meters and 115meter recoveries.

Today was the first time I’ve done an interval sesh like that off of the treadmill and it was tough! During the faster sections my heart rate went through the roof – I’m sure I saw 190+ at one stage! At the end of my road there is a straight path which is about 400meters long so I took myself over there and went back and forth like a yo-yo! I’m sure the dog walkers thought I was a loony! Obviously as it’s one path for over 3M there isn’t much I can report on regarding scenery, however, the sun was out but it’s still cold!

I have an 8 and a 9er tom/thurs so will be incorporating that into my journey into work somehow.

Till then.

N

On my last run I talked of a sore ankle, this was a bit of a concern for me – having up’ed my speed a bit introducing faster threshold runs I worried I may have damaged something. I decided to do the sensible thing and take the Thursday off meaning I would have a two day recovery period rather than the scheduled one.

On Saturday, acutely aware there maybe a problem I took to the streets for the scheduled 3M warmup run – fortunately all seemed well no symptoms which matched Wednesdays run and it appeared that all was good

I’m a leap year baby so 28 Feb is when I opt for my birthday presents, according to facebook today is my birthday. On sat eve a load of my mates came over to take part in a murder mystery evening – whilst the food wasn’t entirely unhealthy I’m not sure the circumstances were the best pre-race routine especially the going to bed at 1am bit!

Sunday, my birthday and also the date of the Roding Valley half which I had decided to do as it’s rare to find an event where the start is less than a mile from home! On signing up, I realised the date, and new that I would be doing things the night before, howerver, I hadn’t predicted the wind and rain crashing into the window as my alarm went off – brilliant! I was so close to going, nah I won’t bother but fortunately I didn’t.

The race was wet and reasonably undulating couple of nice downhill recovery sections including a 1mile downhill to the finish line. The perfect thing about racing locally is the insider knowledge – I knew about the last mile, knew there wasn’t anything uphill so I think my final mile I clocked in a 7:40! Anyway, the finished the course in 1:48 according to my watch. The official race time came in at 1:50 but that doesn’t take into consideration at least a minute waited to get through a gap in a hedge as the main route was flooded!

I think 1:48 is a pb on my watch, and I actually think the official race time of 1:50 maybe a pb for me too from memory! The other positive thing was I still had more miles in my legs, wooo!

Haven’t seen the schedule for this week all I do know is i’m scheduled for an 18M on Saturday and I’m booked in for the ‘Newham 10k’ (completely pointless for marathon training). This run goes via the Olympic park which is always cool so looking forward to that!

Till next time.

N

Having agreed to run a gentle session with colleague Adam I was up early and heading to Holborn for 745. He wanted a 7mile session and at a 9:30-9:45 which seemed perfect to me as I knew that Tuesdays run was tough.

When I woke up I instantaneously felt some weakness in my right ankle I suspected today’s run was going to be a bit painful but as I knew it was to be quite gentle I went for it anyway. The run went quite well other than the pain in my ankle, was a bit wet but becoming used to that at the moment. It was nice to run down the river and with company, it’s been an odd couple of weeks as I have had someone to run with for all of my sessions – perfect!

I am now slightly concerned about my ankle, writing this blog 8 hours or so after running it’s still a bit achey, Sports Clinic Chris recommends it maybe worth seeing a physio which I will think about (I can claim if back on healthcare I guess!). This niggle follows a conversation over dinner where Laura talked about how I seem lucky to not get injuries….tempting fate!

May hold back on my Thursday run, may look at what I should have done this week and do one of those on a treadmill but if my ankle is still bad prob best to keep off it for another day or so.

Till next time.

N

Once again I opted to meetup with Neil and run from his work to Liverpool St and once again I reached the desination in a pretty bad state!

Fortunately the rain had stopped for us this week but Hyde Park was still full of puddles to avoid. Setting off from work at a reasonable warmup pace, still pushing a bit I got to Knightsbridge with an average of 8:40M, this was soon to change!

Judging from my garmin about 2mins after meeting Neil my heart rate started to climb and remain constantly high till the end. We hit consecutive 8min miles or less until one my from the end about 8.5 miles in for me where due to the desperate need for the toilet my pace dropped to an 8:40. Looking at the data even in a week my ability has improved and Sundays long run certainly seemed to have helped that.

These threshold runs are what I was missing from my schedule, someone to push me harder than I would normally go. It is evident that my body can do it yet on my own I give up to early, clearly a weakness of mine!

Thanks to Neil, I’m sure I slow him down so hope these are at least of some use to him and not just helpful to me!

The weekend saw two contrasting days of weather. Awaking on Saturday to a blue sky and the sun out (still cold!) I relished the opportunity to get out and go for a run. Saturdays run is only a short run at slow pace and I did a 5M loop up to my old school and back, used my new trainers again to try bed them in a little more as I’m not sure my other trainers will see me through to the big day.

The run was great, no issues and nice to be able to run with the sun in my eyes – makes a pleasant change to the previous runs I have done recently.

Sunday, on the other hand, was the opposite. Heading down to Southend to participate in a training run, I had to wake early and was greeted with rain hitting the windows and the hum of wind circling the building – perfect!

Leaving the house at 730 was a challenge, especially having had to rat and prepare for the 16 miler I was planning to do but eventually got out. My lovely girlfriend, perhaps foolishly, offered to get up early on her last day off and drive me down there so I got to ‘relax’ on the journey down.

As mentioned the plan was to do 16M, looking at the schedule this was to be done in 2hours 30 (a 9:20 pace) this was not going to be the case today it became clear fairly soon. Making the most of running with company I latched onto the shoulder of Neil D and another runner Ian, they had said they hoped to run at 8:30 also, after running about 4M I also found out they were going to do 18M rather than 16M.

11M into the run still maintaining a sub 8:30 pace I finally started to flag, clearly my body isn’t up for that quite yet- I dropped down and did a mile at 8:45 but then managed to get back to 8:30 for the final half marathon mile. Managed to run the 13.1M in 1:49:57 I think it was which considering I could still chat and wasn’t completely passed out I was pretty damn happy with. That said from 13 on things went downhill pretty badly, possibly because I was on my own my legs became lethargic and I slowed down.

I decided to call it a day at 16, my body didn’t need the extra few miles of which one of was all uphill. I wanted to be able to train again on Tuesday and didn’t want to risk injury. I had to get a lift back to the hospice but managed another rather slow mile to bring my total to 17M in 2:25 of which I’m thoroughly happy with 15ish – considering the final two miles were poor I still averaged an 8:37 run!

One of the things I’m going to have to work on is my pacing – there is no point running a 1hr50 half and then not being able to run the second half!

Cheers to all the chaps I ran with on Sunday, makes a change to get pushed which is brilliant!

Till next time.

N