Until the last few weeks I have been fairly cautious about airing in public that I would be once again be doing this race. However, after a solid 4 months of incredible training, nailing every session long run and build up race I decided I would once again tempt fate and head to Blackheath for the third time in as many years. 

My target was 330-340. My halves in the run up had seen me hit 1:32 in the middle of big mile weeks so the target wasn’t a pipe dream – in theory it was a realistic goal. I had smashed out 4 20mile+ sessions and to be perfectly honest had actually enjoyed the last 4months of training and breaking new barriers. I was fitter, faster and stronger. 

I wonder whether my tone is obvious already but once again the London Marathon nearly beat me but let’s get to that in a bit…

After a very enjoyable expo, bumping into Tom & Martin of Marathon Talk, Adam Phillips a fellow runner who I met at the 2010 Motivation Station in Nottingham and Noel Thatcher Paralympic Gold Medalist as well as others who I have crossed paths with in the past I was ready to roll. I even collected my number right next to Sophie Raworth although I couldn’t for the life of me remember her name so didn’t introduce myself, it transpires we would have a similar story to tell of the event.

I arrived with ample time and loitered around the green start. I bumped into Ed Coats before the start – I was pretty excited by this. I have utmost respect for what him Cracknell and Fogle did crossing the South Pole and I have followed his future adventures in Running Fitness magazine. Amazing – it was photo time  

After this it was time to chill and get into ‘the zone’. I had a loaned phone from Vodafone, again playing with the Motorola Defy. I really like this phone and was chuffed to have it with me today – although would it see me round the course?!

At 9:45 the claxon sounded and once again I was crossing the start line. It felt warm, warmer than I have run in for a while. That said I was running in my comfort zone and at pace. It was tough – but this is a marathon right, it’s meant to be tough! At the mid point I was still going fine. Checking off mile by mile – I would have a few more miles to get through before I started counting down from 100!

14 check, 15, 16,17,18 the eventful mile from last year check, 19, 20, 21 saw Adam P on side of road cheering, 21.3 collapse and 21.5 I somehow wake up in a St Johns tent.

First thought on waking up ‘bugger (possibly harsher language went through my head) not again, not this time’. I knew what to do I had to call Laura and tell her where I was as i knew from last year St Johns wouldn’t- trusty defy still working! I rung but they wanted me off the phonel, partially fair as I was close to throwing up and probably not looking too great. The next min I was vomiting so they got me on the floor. This was the last time I saw this phone, I’m hoping someone from St Johns has it as the evidence I have against them is pretty damning (as my running app was still running) but it’s early days and that’s another blog post (maybe!). As I was on the floor laid out I started cramping up – I knew this would happen. Bugger. 

How long I was in St Johns for I don’t know, I will dissect my Garmin when I have time but my reckoning is 40-50 mins, with analysis probably nearer the later. As I sat on the chair throwing up I had to decide what to do. I had 5 miles still to complete, but my legs were recked having sat in a chair and on the floor – 8min miles were not going to happen but could I run walk. I did the maths how long would it take if I tried to go again? 1 hour or so?

This time quitting was not an option for me, I would make it to the end (or at least try). I found out that the next St Johns tent was about a mile away so if worst came to worst I had somewhere I could end up! I had called Laura who had lined the pavement at 22.5miles and she tried to get down to me but it was too busy, I would head to a landmark and meet her. My legs were getting worse, badly cramping. It was time to move. 

At the 13/22miles balloons I met Laura. She said she’d walk with me but the pavements are not somewhere you can walk and it didn’t take long to realise that unfortunately wasn’t going to be possible. I was on my own. I had a stop and chat to my friends and family as I went round – I even got fed a jelly baby by little Tomas who had come to see me. It was an opportunity to thank them for coming out to support me and they deserved it!

Shortly after I bumped into Iwan Thomas, I have been in touch with him via twitter and through previous expos as well as Laura knowing him from her It Pays to Watch days. I think it would be fair to say at this point it may have been a competition for who looked worse. He’d blown at 14miles but was going to make it. I hoped I could stick with him but the state of my legs said otherwise. 

My pace was slow I would call it a run walk as I ran for as long as I could before my cramps started then walked at short a distance possible before they went. It was slow progress though. I took on water when I could and felt in pretty good shape. Had it not been the pain in my legs (my body felt fine) i would have tried to run it. I learnt a lesson with this – keep pain killers to hand! 

Anyway to cut 5 long and slow miles short I made it to the Mall and this time collected my medal. I crossed the line in 4:40 although that time doesn’t really mean too much to me. That said without the ‘power nap’ as it has been ironically called and doing a 21.5mile run/5mile walk I would have come in about the 4 hour marker…

Thanks to getting my place through Virgin I had entry to a party organised at Planet Hollywood. This was a great opportunity to unwind, Iwan was there and we chatted some more as well as having an opportunity to be meters from Richard Branson, an idol of mine. A very rewarding finish to a difficult day!

As I sit and reflect, my legs are totally recked, to an extent I have never felt before. I went out to conquer and win and once again I had another bad day in the office. That won’t stop me. I have been quite protective about who has helped me over the last few months but at this moment I would like to thank Liz Yelling for being a great mentor. Her schedule has seen me get fitter, faster and stronger and without a shadow of a doubt I would have hit the 3:30-3:40 target if my body had let me. The question that now needs to be answered is why this happens to me. Why when everyone else can dig in and ‘zip up the man-suit’ does my body shutdown and stop me. I’m sure over the coming months I will get to grips with this through Liz and the running community at large!

Thanks again for all who have supported me upto this Marathon especially Laura who is no doubt sick of roasted veg and chicken tomato pasta! I don’t think I could have worked, eaten and got the miles in without her support. Another personalised shout out to Chris D at the Sports Clinic for massages and an ear to bash when necessary. 

Much love, remember run hard, run fast, run strong – or something like that! See you at the next race

N

Ps I have lots more photos to upload but trying to do it on an iPhone is too time consuming!

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

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

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.

It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog post mainly due to me being out of the country! Anyway before going straight into a post about running in Fort Lauderdale I should quickly mention my 14miler with Rich.

On the Sunday before last I met Rich in Kennington following a quick meetup with nan and we ran back to my flat via the Olympic Park. The run went well although quite tough. The pace was reasonable, a talking pace for the most, averaging 8:30min/mi for the distance. The run was in reverse for me as I normally run from the flat to nans. It turns out it’s a bit trickier the other way as after Mile End it’s predominantly up hill! Promising nonetheless and the run was rewarded with a pub lunch straight after.

Two days later we jetted of to the States. Like with Spain I packed my kit but wasn’t sure I’d have quite as much time to run. As it turns out I managed 2 runs. The was first early on in the week. Leaving the hotel at about 7am I crossed the road and ran on the pavement along the coastline. Beautiful. One long road runs parallel to the sea for miles in either direction. I headed along for 2miles before turning back. It was very humid but even still I ran just over 6 miles and returned back to the hotel pleased to have got out.

A few weeks before heading out I googled ‘Fort Lauderdale running clubs’ and the GFLRRC website came up. I thought if they would let me run with them running with company would be nice and fortunately they welcomed me with open arms. So at a ridiculous hour in on the Saturday morning I met them in a mall car park nearby and went for a long run.

At 6am I set off with a group of people, my aim was to do 10 miles at an 8:30-9min/mi pace. I knew from the heat the days previously I wasn’t going to achieve anything quicker especially over that distance. With our group we had a couple of chaps new to training but marathon hopefuls and 2011 Miami Tri wannabes who were running 6miles, an 8mile regular who was pretty nimble on his feet and the coach who would be my guide for the day. Robert, originally from Belgium, took me on a Tour of Fort Lauderdale which was lovely. Some coastal running then heading into the city and running by the canals. He was a great runner, from memory I think he said he was in his late 60s and very very good for age. Much like with Des, from our Thunder Run team, I was in the company of one of the top 50 for age runners in the world.

10miles is normally a challenging run but today it seemed more than that, the humidity really affected things and we came in at an average pace of 8:43. However, if you looked at my clothes after you would have thought someone had pushed me into the sea! My tshirt could have been rung out and my shorts resembled swimming trunks! Having run for about 3 years I can safely say my kit was the wettest it has ever been and that includes running in the rain! I think that should probably highlight how warm it was out there!!

Anyway 10miles is 10miles and it felt bloody brilliant to finish and have some Gatorade and the GFLRRCs Iced Capri suns. I had a brilliant run and was so glad they let me join them for the day. Robert made the run fly by even when I was battling with dehydration

That evening, rather aptly but not planned we headed to Bubba Gumps and sat surrounded by Forrest Gump merchandise. I love that movie and rate it as one of my favourite films even if it does bring back memories of this years marathon…

Now I’m home it’s time to get back onto the road and build up some consistency in September. Let’s hope it doesn’t get too cold!

Till next time…

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

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.

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”

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

Having to swap days due to commitments this evening I was doing the shorter run listed for Thursday. This was a 1M warmup 3M sub 8min/mi and then a cool down. Much like yesterday I was to fit this in before 730 in order to get to work for 9.

The ‘niggle’ was still there however I did manage to achieve the target falling short on the warmdown a bit. I came in at just over 4M – one of the shortest runs I have done in a while, but averaged a pace of 7:52min/mi, quicker than required, I’m happy with that.

I do have a little bit of running scheduled for tonight but not sure how much or fast that will be bit still leg miles in the bank.

Hopefully these two shorter runs haven’t been so tough on my legs and will allow me to successfully complete the 9M+ route scheduled for tomorrow!

Till then.

N