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

A few weeks back I was asked to try out a couple of multipower products and I said I didn’t mind giving it a whirl. Over the last few years having stumbled on SIS products early on I have been pretty loyal to the brand as I actually quite like the taste of most of their products. However, I was willing to give another brand a try.

So far I have used the recovery choc bar, I’m not a massive choco fan and this came across as closer to dark choc form. That said it was perfectly edible and as it was in a bar format it meant I could chuck it in my camelbak and run to work with it. It didn’t need mixing up so could be consumed whilst sat at my desk working and also as it wasn’t a liquid it meant I could take it on with water at the same time which for me was ideal.

They also sent some mixer to take on before exercise with electrolytes acting as an energy drink. I took this on before heading out on a longish hilly bike ride. I was slightly confused how much powder I needed to the water. There was a handy spoon but it didn’t say how big that spoon was! I struggled a bit with the taste of this one but think that could be due to poor measurement. Also I suspect if I was to throw a mixed up version into the fridge it would be a lot nicer cold! With regards to the spoon – if this is the correct measure then apologies im being a bit special

I was also sent some recovery products which I will try after really pushing myself. I’m slightly concerned these products are more for bulking up which is far from what I’m trying to do now so am a little dubious about those.

All in all an interesting range of products. However, I think these products maybe bit more tailored to the gym go-ers rather than the runners etc. There is a lot of competition out there and taste is a massive factor and I’m not sure at first try these guys have got it quite right but I’m prepared to keep at it. That said, having just logged onto the Multipower website there are a whole range of products which I could see being useful to my training like their crunch bars & flap jacks – part of the “Active” range.

Following on from three consecutive days of running I made the most of my free Saturday and the glorious weather to go out for a jog.

Laura was out for the day at an event held by Liz Yelling. After a morning of household DIY involving undercoating 4 doors whilst it was glorious outside, I donned my shorts and grabbed my Oakleys and headed into town.

Dumping my kitbag in Baker St gym I set off towards Regents Park after a lap of the outer circle I headed inwards to try find ‘The Hub’ where Laura was. I failed miserably with that running around the inner inner circle numerous times – eventually after revisiting the same ‘You are here’ maps about 5 times I gave up – tracked back to the outer circle and came in after London Zoo. I wasn’t overly bothered about times or distance today so when in the corner of my eye I saw three Giraffes I got my phone out and snapped away, a rarity for me!!

Plodding onwards I eventually found The Hub then left Regents for Hyde Park. I was trying out my new camelbak waist belt with water carrier so had plenty of fluid with me today which was fortunate as it was so toasty!!

One lap of Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens eventually took it out of me. I struggled today much more than a number of sub 13miles which I have done. I can put this down to the heat and to an extent poor fueling before I started. Whilst I did take on an energy drink I didn’t each much which left me feeling quite weak by the end.

If I’m totally honest though I wasn’t too bothered. I managed a reasonably long run in the heat on the back of a 7/6/4 day meaning in 4 consecutive days I ran just under 30miles injury free.

Spinning day on Monday which I’m looking forward too as always then swim Tuesday, Serps Wednesday…Lets hope the sun stays out so I can possibly get another run in somewhere, maybe Tuesday lunchtime…

Till next time

This post is not one to review the unit, that will come in a few weeks time. Whilst I have had the device for at least a month now today’s treadmill run was the first time I really used it for it’s coaching powers.

miCoach offers real time audio coaching allowing sessions to be hooked into the device. The unit revolves around heartrate training (although I have read reviews to suggest pace based training will appear soon) and by specifying heart rate zones you can push your body accordingly. The sessions have audio to tell you to enter the zone and maintain that heart rate for a given duration.

Today I opted for the VO2 test, one that incorporates all zones. At it’s toughest the device wanted me to enter its ‘Red’ zone which is max heart rate for 2mins and at it’s easiest it was running at a pace just above walking. The session is designed to be tough and it sure was, my t-shirt resembled something straight from the washing machine and by the end of the red zone intervals I couldn’t have slowed the machine down any quicker!

I may have to play with the zones a bit though as I’m not sure it’s calibration is ideal – I suppose that’s fair enough considering I didn’t calibrate it! It was good fun though, reminded me of the Nike training tracks they did a while back which offered similar audio coaching.
» Continue reading “My first ‘proper’ miCoach run”

Throwing the schedule out of the window today and to try make up for the slow Sunday run I decided to run much further than required, the plan recommends 6miles slow (sub 47mins).

Following the same routine as last Wednesday I set off a tiny bit earlier on route to a tube stop on the central line, at the time Ox Circus was the plan. The first mile as always seemed quite tough and having a quick glance at my heartrate clearly my body wasn’t quite ready for getting out! From that point on the run seemed fine. I kept to the suggested pace without too much of an issue. This was my first (marathon) run with my camelbak – I did a few summer short distances but always put too much liquid in the pouch! Found it quite nice being able to take on liquid with the gels as I ran…

Decided to carry on a couple of tube stops and goto Marble Arch instead adding on a mile or so. All in all a good run, no issues or niggles, hopefully all is on target!

Till next time.

N