2010 was a year of improving, in almost every race I entered I beat previous personal bests and on the whole I have become fitter, faster and lighter. I have had lots of highs and thinking about it now only one real low. I have taken my running to new levels and running has now become such a huge part of my life.

If I ran a lot in 2008-2009 it was nothing in comparison to 2010. Over the course of the year I have entered:
- Two 10kms (Newham, Bluewater*)
- One 10m (Stockport*)
- Four half marathons (Roding Valley, Silverstone*, Dartford, Royal Parks)
- One 24hr relay event
- Two Marathons ( London DNF, Dublin*)
( *denotes Race Personal Bests)

Over the year I have run at least 1100 miles. After a bit of google’ing this is equivalent from running between London and Gibraltar! Most, but not all, of those miles were covered in London. However, I did run whilst on holiday in Spain, attempted to run on a treadmill whilst skiing in Andora and even went out with a Running Club at 6am whilst in Fort Lauderdale. In May I joined Serpentine RC and through good fortune I managed to bump into Rich and Jim on my first night and since then Rich has joined me on a number of races including dragging me around the Dublin Marathon! Cheers Rich…

I have also managed to get an article in Runners World magazine about this blog and have been contacted by a number of people who have somehow stumbled into my little home on the web. I think this is pretty cool – the subject matter is pretty dull to most, I’m no record breaker and I say it like it is however I still get visitors and I hope this will continue on into 2011.

At the beginning of 2010 I was an 8:30-9 min/mi runner, an 8min/mi was a tough session – however, on the final race of the year I managed 10 hilly miles with an average pace of 7:25, substantially faster! Luckily I think I still have more to give, a more focused schedule in 2011 structured in a way to build my speed should hopefully see me setting more PB’s.

At the moment I am still unconfirmed of my race plans for 2011, it’s possible I will head back to Silverstone again and take on the 1:42:44. I have entered the Dorney Lakes Half and it’s also likely I will run a Marathon in the spring and, depending on how that goes, also in the Autumn. Hopefully, if Rich doesn’t continue to get quicker and quicker maybe we will head abroad somewhere for the Autumn one, possibly Berlin…?!

Bring on 2011…!

N

How do I start…over the last few months I have had my own little secret and on Monday 26th October I managed to exorcise the demons that have followed me around since that day in April.

Following the Test Adidas place at the Thunder Run, where I had the fortune of meeting Gemma and Ath, I was given the opportunity of a place in the Dublin Marathon for myself and Rich (my Weds eve Serpentine training buddy). After a lot of soul searching, I decided that it maybe an ideal event to regain some confidence in this distance and took the place. This was back at the beginning of August and I have been marathon training ever since.

Obviously I had kept my miles up pretty high following London maintaining at least one 7miler a week and a couple of other runs but now I would have to build on top of that a 3 month schedule with 2 holidays in between. At this point the runs in Spain and the 10miler in Miami may make a lot more sense – not that I needed an excuse to run abroad!

I had blogged about 16milers but failed to go into details, I definitely didn’t blog about my 20miler following a day at work and come to think of it the evening after a work meal, I ran to mum and dads and it was this day I told them following enquiries as to why I was running so far! I think I managed a couple of 18′s, a few 16′s and one 20. It was certainly less than Jan-Apr but still consistent. Factoring at least one ‘fast’ session a week to help with the limited training schedule.

The negative split at the Royal Parks was deliberate to test my legs for the second half of a marathon. That weekend would typically be the longest run but having booked into the half months ago I had to take any opportunity I could from it but racing it so late would not have been a wise idea. What I failed to mention on that blog post was the fact at the end of the race we tacked on another 3miles to make it a 16mile session which one of my colleagues actually spotted me doing!

I have trained with Rich a number of times for this race, I have been up at silly o’clock in the morning to get long runs out of the way and whilst he isn’t massively faster than me, I suspect at any race he would beat me to the finish line! As well as this I have been out with colleagues who didn’t realise I was tapering with them and other friends including a jog in Manchester!

On Saturday morning at 5o’clock the alarm went off and Laura and I headed to Stansted. A few hours later we landed in a cold but sunny Dublin and headed to our hotel. We had to pick up our numbers from the expo on Saturday so after a quick bagel we headed over to the conference centre. Saturday was always going to be a non-sightseeing day, reserving those for the bus tour on Sunday (to keep me off my feet) and then Tuesday.

Adidas and Lifestyle sports had set up a ‘Breakfast Run’ predominantly for international runners. Fortunately (and due to Laura’s great planning) this started right outside our hotel and on Sunday morning we headed down and I went for a v gentle 2mile run to stretch out my legs. The run was pleasant and after this we were treated to breakfast (hence the name) and they also put on a show of Irish Dance and Folk Songs. A perfect start to another gloriously sunny morning. After returning to the hotel to get changed we then headed to the bus tour and saw what Dublin had to offer. At about 4pm we headed back to the hotel and used the jacuzzi/pool and generally relaxed in preparation for the marathon.

The Dublin Marathon is on a Monday, this is because it’s a bank holiday over there. At 6am my alarm went off, my kit was already prepared so just put it on and headed for some toasty breakfast. At 730 Rich and I left for the start. It was almost time!

At 8am we met up with Ath, who had also decided to run it. It was certainly chilly and for the next hour we tried to keep warm whilst waiting for the race to start. The next thing I knew I was in the starting pen waiting for the gun!

The first few miles where slow, the route was quite windy with some sharp corners. As the pack was still tight it meant coming to a stop and walking in places. Looking at my garmin, the first mile is my slowest by some margin. It took about 3miles for the field to open a bit and then our times started to better. Laura and Liz had planned where they were to be standing and we spotted them at both locations but after 11miles we were on our own until 24/25 miles…

The first half went pretty well for Rich and I but Ath was visibly struggling and just shy of 12 miles he left us to do some stretching. He had helped hold the pace back and this was shown by the next few miles being a fair bit faster.

We hit 13.1miles in 01:56:33.

From halfway through until 20ish miles things were fairly uneventful. A common feature for the run were the inclines and once again we found more and more of them. Unfortunately the downs seemed short and sharp not really prolonging their benefit! At about 22m I first started to feel it in my right leg. Almost instantly I had a throbbing pain in my right quad. I took 20 seconds to head to a wall and stretch it out but didn’t want to hang around for too long incase I started to seize up elsewhere!

Forcing the pain to the back of my head I carried on with Rich not letting me quit. The pain went until someone stopped dead in my tracks and I had to vault a cone to avoid her. Not a good idea 24miles into a run! I was dragged along by Rich who seemed to ignore my sulking – in hindsight he was right too!

The final mile or so was a blur, I think it went by quite quickly but can’t remember it, just the seeing of the finish line and the end in sight!

3 hours 42 minutes. 52 minutes faster than my last completed marathon but more important than that confidence restored. It’s been a tough 6 months, there was a lot of doubt and concern in my mind but this has now been laid to rest!

A great run and a great experience all around.

Thanks to all those who have supported me and believed in me over the last few months I think it would have been a lot easier to jack it all in but right now as I finish this post I’m glad I didn’t.

Rest time

Race Stats

Overall Position: 3181/10700
10km Time: 00:57:19
13.1m Time: 01:56:33
30km Time:02:42:00
26.1m Time: 03:42:50

Thursday night was one of those times. I was ill prepared for a long run, at lunch I went to buy a pre-run energy drink but I got pulled in for a meeting and ended up not drinking anything after lunch. I rushed out of the meeting due to organising to meet with Rich at 5:10 grabbed a flapjack an chucked my kit on as quick as possible. Not the best preparation for a run!

I think the lack of fluid combined with an almost threshold run the day before and an interval session on the Tuesday all meant that this run was going to seem hard. I cocked up with my Garmin (again!) fortunately Rich now has a new watch so I compared information. I ended up doing 13-14 miles by the end, giving up with a stitch at bank station. Looks like we averaged 8:36 which as it turns out wasn’t too bad but during the run it felt like I was running through treacle! Not good.

On Saturday we headed to Manchester for a party. Sam, Laura’s friend is a runner and offered to accompany me on a gentle bimble. Knowing I wasn’t going to be running again till Monday I thought it fine to go for a plod. We hadn’t specified a pace before leaving but agreed to run at a comfortable talking pace. Once again the run didn’t feel easy but we went at a reasonable pace. I logged an average pace of 8:15 for just shy of 10k. Sure it was no pb pace but still tough given everything that is in my legs. All of the splits were sub 8:30 which was good and it was nice to run somewhere different with company. I think I will be back up there in a couple of months for a race in December. That will be interesting as apparently the course is hilly and gets icy, something I’m not used to!!

Sort of recovery day Sunday then trainers back out in order to get to work whilst the tfl go on strike! Fortunately there was a sort of service which meant over the day I only needed to run 6 miles split up over 3 segments. The morning segment was tough my cold is moving south into the lungs and I think that it was showing then. When I got in I took on fruitfruitfruit and fortunately by 5pm I felt much better and my runs were much more comfortable.

Intervals today I think, gentle 7-10miler tomorrow, even gentler shorter run on Thursday then Royal Parks Half on Sunday, this is not a PB race, this is an opportunity to enjoy London and the crowds the plan is to run an 8:30-845 pace which would mean a race time of about 1:50:155. I will be waiting till spring next to push my half PB possibly at Silverstone again! Currently my body is possibly in a better shape than back then with a much lower heart rate on the whole however my speed isn’t where it was back then so there is no point trying!!

Till next time.

N

As I write this post it feels like my week has been relatively quiet Having missed out on a long run last weekend and most likely will again this week I have had a relatively low mileage month-as the stats box on the right shows! However, whilst I haven’t done any long runs I have managed to get out and do some shorter distances, a couple of which were at high tempo.

On Monday I had the day off work as I was traveling back from a weekend break. Arriving back at the flat at about 2pm I took the opportunity to grab my shoes and go out for a 10k. The weather was HOT and I was running at the warmest part of the day. I had forgotten basic rules of fueling up having only had a couple of cups of tea all day – I would soon learn to regret this. Setting off at a fast pace I had intended on pushing myself and my Garmin suggested I was doing this, however I ran out of energy about 4miles in. My mouth dried up and I seriously needed liquid. From a sub 7:45min/mi average I dropped to 8min/mi in the last mile. Still a respectable time but considering the effort factor vs result it didn’t feel that great a run.

Tuesday morning, as routine, saw me head to the pool and so some weight work beforehand. Nothing substantial just trying to work on my core muscles a bit more to help with the running. I also went out with a colleague for a jog during the lunch break. As always was a nice plod for me at a very comfortable pace – I think during these runs my heart rate is below the +80% meaning I am in the fat burn zone as opposed to lactic zone.

Wednesday was an unexpected rest day due to unplanned circumstances so on Thursday I headed to Shep Bush Fitness First for a long gym session. I was unsure at the time whether to head outside for a run in the sun but eventually opted to push myself on the machines. First off the treadmill – I pushed myself for a sub 20min 5km, I don’t think I have done that before. Setting the base speed at 15km/h this would see me hit bang on 20mins. However, I opted to push myself even more adding half mile intervals ramping up to 18-20km/h. Needless to say this was tough and a challenge but not wanting to stop my session after 20mins I moved to the rowers. I had decided 10mins on these. As it turns out I did 2.5k in slightly over 10mins. Still heavily perspiring from the run I looked round the gym – what next? May as well do a mini tri and jump on the bike. Only a short stint on that racking up 10km. I don’t like exercise bikes as the mechanism seems so clunky and unsmooth. By the end of this ride I had formed a small pond around the bike and looking at my kit it looked like I had jumped into it too! Felt good though so guess that’s what really matters.

As I said at the start unsure when my next run is. I will be out with the serps next Wednesday as I have missed the last two runs. I need to start putting the miles in a bit more as I have been a bit naughty!

Till next time.
N

I don’t often do this but this one seemed like it was for a good cause and would be a nice shout out for them – also im in a generous mood today! Sadly I can’t be around to go and do it as I’m off fishing, and if i wasn’t prebooked to go fishing I would have been riding to Southend. However, for those who want to get out and about on Sunday. is the opportunity to do a circular 10km walk around London, which has been carefully plotted to pass landmarks and hidden gems of the city. Participants can enjoy the sights of London whilst raising money for current and former members of the Armed Forces all organised by the British Legion.

The walk takes place on Sunday 18th July (this Sunday!) and those wishing to take part are invited to contact Rebecca Pride (rpride@britishlegion.org.uk) and register at 9:30am at The Royal British Legion headquarters (199 Borough High St, London, SE1 1AA). See here for more info.

Would be great if they have a good turnout to support such a noble cause.

The Royal British Legion safeguards the welfare, interests and memory of those who are serving or who have served in the Armed Forces. We are one of the UK’s largest membership organisations and recognised as custodians of Remembrance. We also run the annual Poppy Appeal. They help serving and ex-Service personnel and their families. Not just those who fought in the two World Wars, but also those involved in the many conflicts since 1945 and those still fighting today.

As a final note before packing up – wishing a good luck for all those people doing the London -> Southend bike ride this weekend. I hope it goes well for you!!

N

It’s been another poor week of running this week. That’s almost 2 back to back weeks with very little distance in my legs. Poor discipline is what I put it down to, that combined with spending time doing other sports in the gym.

As usual Monday was spin day, a real toughy this week. Jon got a new training cd and it seemed all the tracks were had a fast beat, including the hills. This session certainly got my heart rate up and as normal there was a nice puddle around my bike at the end!. On Tuesday and Thursday I headed to the pool, after 20mins of stretching I managed a 40mins swim before heading to work. I did do a little 40min jog with my colleague at lunchtime, however this was very short and came several days after the last run with him.

Wednesday is serpentine day. 3 parks decided as usual and as usual was pulled around by an ‘ill’ Rich. It was still fairly humid but we still managed an av speed of 7:40mile even with me sulking and getting an 8min section put in cause I was struggling! After about 3miles in I was the closest to bringing my lunch up I have been in months!! It’s amazing how much slower over the last few weeks I have become, the first week we managed an av 7:15min/mi not coming remotely close to that at the moment.

As I write this it’s Friday night and since weds I haven’t been for a run. I hope to fit something in over the weekend of mid distance. Hopefully 10miles or so just to stretch my legs out. That said it’s hot so that is going to be a challenge!

Sunday is the British 10k and whilst I’m not running it this year I hope all that are enjoy it and that it’s a bit better organised good luck all!

N

…in that order. Since last Wednesdays 2 park run I have been a bit lazy on the running front but have still been reasonably active. On Saturday I booked to visit my sports masseur in the sports clinic Bluewater. Following the 10km just below my knee has been a bit painful and I thought it maybe worth getting it stretched out, before that however I managed to get out on the mountain bike for a 13 mile ride with Laura’s dad. This time he went out on his road bike so the pace was a bit faster and the ride much tougher than the last one. It looked like baring one or two hills my heart rate remained low so a nice little workout. Useful as Monday was spent at Wimbledon so missed out on my spin session!

Tuesday am I managed to fit in a swim session before work a quick visit to baker st fitness first with a gentle warmup on the treadmill, some leg rolls and then into the pool for 30mins of front crawl…

Wednesday is Serpentine running day and it was HOT! Setting off to do the 3 park, sun glasses were determinately at the ready today! We set off with the 8-8:30 pack and as usual went off too fast I think we got through the first in 745 and second in 750, sadly I couldn’t maintain this pace and gradually I got slower. I think the final mile came in at 8:15ish which wasn’t a surprise. By this point I was pretty dehydrated and my mouth was very salty. We still managed to average an 8min/mi pace but just not sustain consistency.

Thursday morning I met up with my colleague at Old St for a little jog up to work. We had worked out the route was completely straight and assuming we started off in the right direction there was no chance of getting lost. After about half a mile I was starting to doubt whether we had indeed gone off the opposite way but fortunately not! Quite a refreshing pace this morning which was nice, also normally two runs back to back is normally an issue for me but today was fine.

Not sure what the weekend has in store for me, but we shall see.

N

Today was the first competitive run since the Marathon and to be honest after what happened back then I was a little bit aprehensive about how the run was going to go. I know that I can cover the distance easily at a reasonably fast pace as the serpentine course on a weds is over half a mile longer and I have covered that over the last few weeks pretty quickly. However, I was aware of my heart rate and the stresses that my body may have been going through so I talked about it with caution to friends and family.

Heading to Laura’s on the Saturday evening so we could have a 15min journey to the start it meant I could get up as late as possible at 6:30 for breakfast, a shower and to start taking in my energy drink. Out the door by 7 and on route, it was quite cloudy but the rain looked like it was staying away. I think we got there a lot quicker this year as I don’t remember having to wait around for the start for as long but nevermind – i was warm enough so it wasnt a problem.

I was hoping to do a sub 45 but wasn’t sure whether this was realistic – at Newham I made 46:07 and I had a sub 45 race which I had achieved as part of the Silverstone Half. I headed to quite near the front of the pack so I wasn’t caught up having to spend most of the race overtaking people – fortunately I don’t remember being overtaken too many times so I couldn’t have upset too many people!

The race set off fast – once again, the Virgin pacers got it completely wrong, trying to stick with the 45min pacer was almost impossible and looking at my stop watch after the first mile it was clear why – she was running faster than 6:40 pace, or a 41:25 10km…too fast! After about 2-3km I overtook her as she clearly couldn’t maintain that pace, but I would be intrigued to know if that was her strategy fast start then slow down, but that’s hardly “pacing”. Anyway, as with last year the course can by no means be described as flat – it’s referred to as undulating on RW forums and I remember reading someone describe it as a ‘fun’ challenge.

The first 2 miles were mostly downhill and amazingly I managed splits of 6:41/6:48 respectively – following that came the uphill. The garmin indicates an elevation incline of 40meters over 1mile or alternative a 2.5% incline. Needless to say this was tough and I dug in as much as I could. Fortunately Bluewater is 4meters above sea level and at the top of the hill we reached 40meters so between mile 3.5 and the end we would have to come back down again, but not before a couple more hills. The mid miles I had 7:14/7:26 splits. On the road back home I managed to get my times back below 7mins again. Putting my head down I dug in till the finish line with the final 100meters being another hill just to tease you right at the end, although I had nothing in me to even think about sprinting!

As the title suggests this was a new PB for me – taking about 5mins off of my time for last year and a couple of mins from my time at Newham. I’m well chuffed as I have certainly broken the 45min barrier with that time and it was a hilly course – would be interesting to see what I could pull of on a flat, but will save that for a bit – time to enjoy the moment, let the recovery barby sink in and chillax…Whilst I remember I want to say how well the Bluewater 10km is organised, the goody bags are spot on and probably the best I have ever got as well as that they give out a technical tshirt that is actually quite nice. Well worth the cost of the event…

Edit: since starting this post the race results have come online, there was only one female virgin active pacer even close to the start of the group and she came in at 50:13, me thinks she blew up…

Also the field was obviously very strong this year, in the 2009 race my time would have seen me secure a top 100 finish out of 2000. This year I came in at 189/2092 although today it did feature the Kent County Championships and Kent Grand Prix so I wonder whether there were some faster runners out there! It doesn’t really matter though

Click here for the Bluewater 10k Results.

Very rarely do I have a back to back week of sport and fitness but from mon-friday this week I can genuinely say it’s been pretty good.

On Tuesday before tip day I headed to baker st fitness first bright and early to do a fast treadmill 5k and then cover about 400m in the pool. The run went well and I think (with some holding on) I came through the 5k in 20-21mins (no doubt my heart rate was through the roof) with the obligatory 1% incline to make it more like the outdoors. Quick change into my far from professional board shorts and still red faced I was in the pool to cover the 20 or so lengths I wanted to do. As a little treat I went to the steam room then headed in for a standard “fun” Tuesday.

Wednesday was Serpentine night and whilst I has half hoped to swim again in the morning the later night before meant I wasn’t up for it when the alarm went off. I had intended on taking a steady pace about the 8-8:15 min mile kind of level but typical to form I stuck with the chaps I have run with before and clocked a 7:30 average. Unlike the 7min day I did a bit more stretches on Wednesday and writing this on Friday I am in nowhere near as much pain as back after that.

Thursday was my R&R day, nothing fitness related at all and also had the pleasure of visiting the Meat and Wine co. in Westfield for a great meal with Laura – lots of meat, not the healthiest but hey it was good!!

Finally today, Friday. I have had a busy day organised but managed to fit in a very short but reasonably paced swim session. I pushed myself hard enough to raise my heart rate and also upon finding my goggles again I found it much easier to get into a better rhythm! Felt great at the end of it and the rest of the ‘working’ day was to follow…

Sunday I have ‘Kent’s most exciting race’ as the sweatshop emails have reminded my numerous times and I’m heading to Bluewater 10k. Bit hesitant for my time here – it was fairly hilly and I’m not sure whether I will be able to beat my Newham 10k time which was in the peak of my training. That said I should be able to beat my time of 48:52 last year I hope…

Update of the race to follow on Sunday.

N

Obviously everyone who knows me is aware that the Sunday before last was a huge blow to me. Training for the London Marathon was a huge focus for me since the beginning of the year, but anyone that reads this blog knows that running has been part of my life for a number of years. After much reflection I realise it would be foolish to hang my trainers up for good.

Over the next few months I intend on pushing on. I have a 10km and a half lined up later on in the year and I will watch my training to see what else maybe possible to achieve in 2010. I want to spend time running with others, in particular those who have offered kind words of support over the last few weeks – you know who you are. I will also be looking at joining a club and seeing if I can get involved in some club running, hopefully helping me regain some confidence and learn where and what I am possibly doing wrong.

Before the marathon we had booked a relaxing recovery break in Tenerife for the Bank Holiday weekend. Having sulked a bit for a week Laura suggested I take my trainers in case I fancied a run. On Sunday morning when the sun was in (but temps still above 20) I decided to give it a go…
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