I can’t be the first person to have gone for a run with gloves on and needed to pick up a call on my phone. However, anyone with a touch screen phone would know that the only reliable mechanism to ensure this works is to take your gloves off. This then leaves your little fingers to get very cold. Once you have finished the call you then have to put the cold and sweaty gloves back on. Never fun!

One of my colleagues friends got in touch with me a few weeks back to tell me about some gloves he was selling – the ‘eglove‘. He informed me that due to the membrane in the finger* you can leave the gloves on and use the phone. I was a little dubious about this having picked up some Hilly Gloves at the Running Show following a recommendation that these would also work the same, and they didn’t!

Gloves on I went for a run. No-one rung me, same again next time. The gloves were keeping my hands warm but weren’t being tested when it came to the ‘e’ part and the unique selling point!

Eventually realising no one was going to call me I decided I would get out my phone and change the music, after all after 13miles of listening to ‘We are the Champions’ starts to get a bit dull. Oh my god they only bloody worked! Full access to my phone gloves still on, bingo!

Great piece of kit and I’m sure suitable for almost any runner. I know north face offer a similar glove but I haven’t tried these. However, I genuinely can’t fault the eglove for it’s handiness (no pun intended). Apparently they are also selling ski gloves with the same fingertip technology which would be cool (although any father ted viewer knows never to pick up a call whilst skiing!) as I remember having the same issues on the slopes last year!

Click for more information on egloves

Its been a whole week since my last post which is poor performance on my part! However, I have been mentally busy and on top of this last Friday I started coming down with a cold which I have been fighting to get rid of!

My long run plans for the Sunday were thrown out of the window and instead I did a gentle couple of local miles slow and easy. I was out for just 30minutes and it felt tougher than usual guess that was to be expected! Monday, still recovering I worked from home so as to save my colleagues from my germs – although to be honest I think I picked up the cold from one of them so I’m not sure why I bothered

Tuesday was my next scheduled run day, 6 miles ‘easy’ this turned out to be one of those very very bizarre runs. I was expecting the worst, not feeling 100% but I was fast and finding it easy. I can only assume this was down to the rest I had since Thursday evening. In what was to be a complete accident I did a 6mile run with an av pace of 07:24 min/mi pretty zippy!

Wednesday I was out with Rich and Ath who also ran the Dublin Marathon. We did a run along the Thames from Horse Guards up to Tower Bridge and back at an 8:15min/mi pace. Lovely run! The Thames at night has some amazing views which are easily missed especially on faster sessions! Had fun

Uh oh Thursday time!

10mins easy jog, 10mins at MP, 3mins jog rec ( 5x 2mins faster with 2 mins easy ) 3mins easy jog, 10mins at MP again. 10mins easy.

How was it Thursday already! A very tough session made worse by the fact that about 2mins after leaving work the heavens opened and all of a sudden there was TORRENTIAL rain! It absolutely chucked it down…The session was hard, as expected – my heart rate went through the roof which is good. I had to cut short the 10 mins easy at the end to about 5 because of time constraints. Haven’t checked out the Garmin yet as the transfer stick is at home – one to analyse at the weekend!

Today is rest day, before heading down to Southend on Sunday to run with the other Havens Runners on there campaign towards the London Marathon, looking forward to it!

I’m a bit slow in blogging due to being incredibly busy at the moment both at home and work although the Thursday before last in the evening I did manage to squeeze in an hour run. I had decided to give the route I used to run with my dad a go
but in reverse, I did this once before about 2 years ago an it is significantly harder as the hills are much steeper the other way and features a killer mile about 5miles in.

Fully wrapped up baring my gloves which I couldn’t find I headed put into the cold. Heading in any direction other than towards London from mine presents you with an undulating terrain of varying difficulty. This route has it all. The run went pretty well actually considering I had been out for a gentle jog with my colleagues that lunchtime. I came in at sub 8min mi average – the ‘hill’ was my slowest mile but even that wasn’t too bad. Other than being a little bit cold – and that is only going to get worse over the next few weeks, it was a good run!

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

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!

I’m going to start this post with what would normally be a conclusion but I wanted to ensure you all got the point before getting bored and leaving! The Adidas Thunder Run 24 is a team relay lasting 24 hours with laps of 10km. This weekend was possibly one of the most enjoyable running experiences I have had since starting back in 2008. It’s not down to personal bests or any of the usual highs associated with running but instead it’s due to being able to join forces with a bunch of lovely people and have good fun. Sure, I may not have been as good as 75% of the team but by the end of the final lap it didn’t seem to matter. The run itself was incredibly well organised and perhaps because it was still a relatively small event the atmosphere was buzzing from 11am Saturday, when we arrived, until 3pm the following day when we said our goodbyes. The small group of spectators who lined the course, most likely fellow team mates or friends and families, cheered on everyone no matter what speed or size because after lap 2 or 3 it was impossible to know what lap they were on! Fat, thin, fast, slow, male, female it genuinely didn’t matter on this event, if you were prepared to stick at it you could be admired by the hundreds of people who were at the event. As the tag line of the event says ‘Impossible is nothing’.

Anyway now it’s time to go back to how I ended up getting involved in this event. About 2 weeks ago I got contacted by a Digital Agency working for Adidas asking if I’d like to be involved in an event and test out some of their kit. I said I’d do some research and also asked if I could invite some other runners. I got an affirmative to the later question so on top of asking my colleagues who were all busy I contacted my running partner Rich from the Serps who gave the answer ‘why not’. I confirmed and double checked we would be entering a FULL team of 8 and said to go for it. I know I can run 12 miles with my training how it is at the moment and in my calculations we would end up doing about 24 laps or 18miles tops…

Setting off bright and early on Saturday morning we made our way to Catton Park in Staffordshire. Rich and I had both looked on the website a little but as neither of us had considered training there was little point getting too worried about what we had signed up for. As we turned down the final road to the entrance of the park I clocked a running path that swung left into a forest up a pretty sharp hill. This was the moment I wondered whether it was such a good idea!

Other than a few emails a couple of days before the event I had no idea of who would be on our team. We had been put together through the agency based on being previous triallists or bloggers. For some unknown reason I had been nominated as captain and the agency chose to call us the Lock and Loaders. About 30 mins after Rich and I arrived most of the team was formed and after a brief introduction we started putting up our tents and pulling on our ‘test team’ kits.

I’m going to be fairly blunt here and say that at a normal running event or running club I don’t think any of our team mates would have talked to us. They were all much faster runners with very impressive PB’s to match. Rich and I have chatted before about the better/best runners all sticking together, which to be honest is perfectly acceptable – afterall they have no reason to run with us! But here we now were with a group of runners who win events or if they don’t they are close runners up. Not like mid-pack Rich and I! Within the first 20 minutes of meeting I made a rather big slip up in their eyes by saying “we are here to enjoy this, not to win it” – the looks that greeted this from some of the team were priceless and I suddenly realised that I was in company that ran to win.

After a shakey start we had constructed our initial list of runs. For some reason, I don’t no why, we wrote a plan based on 1hour laps. After the third runner had gone out we realised we were way off, sub 40,sub 40,sub 40 I think it was!? It was about now I realised how incredible the runners on my team were. Our expected 60mins per person was thrown out of the window and by 8pm we were back to the pad reorganising things, not before my first run though….

The run itself was unlike anything I have ever done before. For a start it wasnt on a road! Starting off on a nice little bit of green path it didn’t take long before a sharp right up and into the forest! Weaving through the trees on uneven surfaces and narrow trails – this was no PB territory. After 5 or so minutes of sharp turns and bends I exited the forest onto a wider trail and back past part of the campsite. From this point on I can remember bits and bobs and patch things together, a couple more inclines, one lasting a fair while some more between the tree running, one short but very sharp drop etc etc. About 46 mins from the start I found myself almost at the finish line with one more incline to go. My team mates, Laura and her firend Megan were there to cheer me on. From this point on it was down hill and time to hand over our “relay batton” to Atheer and away he went!

My first 10km was over and with only 2 more runners in our group left to run it wouldn’t be long before people started their second laps. It was now time for me to eat and refuel and get off my feet before I was scheduled to go out again about 6 hours later…

» Continue reading “The 2010 Adidas Thunder Run 24″

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

A very short blog post today as I’m about to dash out of the door and go fishing

On Wednesday evening I did the perimeter run of the 2012 Olympic site. This time I had the pleasure of company from two colleagues, who both trained (and completed!) this years London Marathon and since then have continued to run.

It was a nice run, whilst the grey clouds loomed overhead the rain stayed off which was a bonus. I got to give the chaps a running commentary of Stratford and the Park, whether they wanted to hear it or not. I love running round there as every time I go past it something new has popped up or some path has been changed. Its constantly evolving and in 6 months time it will look completely different. Its a very exciting place to be able to run around and live. I can’t wait to see what Stratford will look like this time next year and ultimately in 2012

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