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!

I suspect for almost everybody out there training towards a  spring marathon the past weekend saw you out pounding the pavements and putting some big miles in the leg bank. It was no difference for me as I had a 2hr30 run scheduled, the longest to date for 2011.

On Saturday I went for a service with Chris D at the sports clinic. Whilst I didn’t have any serious injuries I’m aware that it’s best to have a massage once a month or so when heavily training to flush out the rubbish that has built up in the legs. One hour later I was out and my legs felt refreshed and ready for the LSR on Sunday.

This weekend was another Training Run organised by Havens Hospice in Southend. Benfleet RC put together a number of routes covering all magnitudes of distances and at 830 in the morning everyone leaves on mass. Whilst waiting in Little Havens there is always an aura of anticipation! For a number of people there embarking on their first marathon this would be the longest run to date and this is a worry. This was me 3 years ago and I know the feeling! Fortunately, these training runs bring people together and allow people to see they aren’t alone!

As mentioned I was out to do 2hrs30 and based on previous runs I wanted to do roughly 8:15 splits if possible. I was prepared to slow it a bit to run with company as I saw no point in travelling to Southend and running on my own! Fortunately I managed to drag 2 runners along with me, Paul and Kanan(?!?!). I have run with Paul before, in fact we both started training for the 2009 marathon for Havens. Since then it seems we have both improved in pace leaving the 9min/mi group we both ran with in ’09 in our wake!

I am fairly confident when I say I pushed them harder than they were expecting. These guys are training for a sub 345/350 and for 18 hilly miles we hit an average split of 8:17. At 18 miles that would put them over half a mile ahead – let’s not forget though it’s all about the last 6miles and not the first 20!

The run was perfect and as 18mile sessions go it was certainly up there with one of the best. Two very good training sessions with havens this year and even though the weather for the  second was grey an dismal the cheeriness of those out more than made up for it!

With the Roding Valley half on Sunday week I believe my schedule has a ‘mini taper’ meaning my LSR this coming weekend is not so ‘L’ – at 90mins I will be looking to do 10-11 miles and just enjoy it!

Hope everyones training is going well and to plan!

N

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

Last week on the HavensRunner site I wrote a post about my Thursday session. This was a hill session and it was the first of it’s type I had ever done. Rightly so I was anxious about what I was about to put my body through – I had no doubt this was going to be hard, it was just the question of how hard!

Throwing on my new trainers for their second run I headed towards a local hill which I had run on many times before. However, for obvious reasons I often opted to run down this mountain rather than up, finding alternative less demonic routes back to my flat. On Thursday I was aiming for it and I wasn’t going to do this hill once I had it scheduled to run it 6 times! I jogged down the hill for about 3miles (figuring that I wouldnt do much faster than an 8min mi average for this session) psyched myself up turned round and went for it. Feeling an enormous sense of pride once the two mins was up I turned round and jogged back. I think it was during the first jog back I started to realise that I had 5 more of these to do and short of giving up and calling a day there was no easy option!

6 reps later i was beaten and I jogged back home glad it was over! Connecting my Garmin I was presented with the following heart rate graph – i think it’s clear from this even if my splits weren’t entirely consistent the effort I put in each time was!

Friday was my rest day and I loved it, but deep down I know the only reason I’m resting is to prepare for the next run and baring a little jog on sat, Sunday was my LSR. The schedule had me down for 1hr50 and at this stage it’s all about time on my feet. Setting off towards Stratford I was going to check out how far along the Olympic Park is…

If you live in London I would recommend you head upto Stratford. The park is an amazing sight and with the Olympics just over a year away I’m very excited to get in there and experience it! I digress…

I covered 13.75 miles in 1hr53. Tried out another gel type (Powerbar Strawberry and Banana) which weren’t too bad. This gel did not have the consistency of most of the other gels I have had. It was much thicker and less gooey. It tasted ok though! The run went well with no real issues or concerns. I tried to keep my heart rate down below 160 which I did so that was good! All in all a promising LSR covering a respectable distance.

One day off (running) and come Tuesday morning I was back out again pounding the streets. 8miles between Bank Station and work (Shepherds Bush) at a slow very easy pace. Whilst it didn’t feel easy my heart rate was low averaging low 150bpm. Just keep on reminding myself it’s all about miles on the feet!!

Till tomorrow no doubt when I’m back out again!

N

It’s far too easy sometimes to get caught up in a schedule and not entirely enjoy what you are doing and the reasons why you are doing it. This weekend, in particular Sunday was not one of these times.

Before getting into Sunday I wanted to quickly write about my warmup run on Saturday. At Xmas Laura got a bike in the hope she could come out with me when I was running training. She could be my company on some of those runs where I’m out on my own. On Saturday she joined me on my little prep jog before Sunday’s LSR. We headed to Gunpowder Park in Lea Valley and for 30mins I ran and she cycled beside me! A great way to do those kinds of runs

On Sunday morning, getting up at some ungodly hour (for me), Laura and I jumped in the car and headed for Little Havens in Southend. The charity had organised a training run and as I’m involved in the Havens Runners project as well as having run the London Marathon for them in 2009 and 2010 I went down to join them.

I was scheduled for a shorter run than normal ‘consolidating my miles’ this week and was require to run 1hr20 or about 10miles. Fortunately to cover all bases the Havens team had created routes to cover all abilities and distances.

As more and more runners turned up it was clear that this was going to be a busy run which was nice and at 830, we set off down towards the sea front. Laura was armed with her camera ready to snap away as the group of runners exited the site. The pictures really show how good the turnout was!

This is not the first training run I have done with the Hospice, however it is the first time the weather has been kind. The sun was out and whilst it is still cold it was glorious running conditions.

Forming a small pack at the front Paul M, Neil D, Ian R and I set off at an 830 ish pace up and down the many inclines. However, unlike many of my previous runs here in Southend this felt pleasant. My heart rate stayed low and I could hold an easy conversation – most would say a perfect LSR pace!

At about 6 miles is where I separated from the others in the pack who were carrying on to do an extra couple of miles but just before that I witnessed the spectacular sight of the sun over the sea front from high. It was a glorious sight – far from the normal gailing winds and lashing rain I remember from the past.

The turn around point is on Belton Way which is a pretty big hill. This hill has always been a bit of a nemesis for me. I remember ‘running’ it for the first time in 2009 and it was horrid. This time I would destroy it and with my increased fitness I duly did. That’s not to say it’s not a killer hill but all of a sudden it’s passable! Will have to go try that *mountain* in fattened again soon although I think that is still top steep!

At the top of the hill I noticed another havens runner so dropped back to run with them to the end. I figure these runs are supposed to be with company so what’s the point in running 30meters in front of someone for 3miles! Great bit of company saw the remaining, relatively dull bit of the route fly by and before long we were back at Little Havens tucking into a bacon sarnie

All together a perfect run. No niggles, pains or concerns and a bit of beautiful scenery to top it all off! Thanks to Havens for organising it. I hope some of the other Havens Runners enjoyed it as much as I did!

The afternoon was spent in front of the tv. I put on Chariots of Fire which I had sky+’ed months ago this followed by Spurs V United, a roast dinner and bath topped off what was to be a lovely day all around! Shame it can’t last and it’s now back to work again…

Till next time

N

It’s the start of the New Year, people have eaten too much and the resolutions are out. Top of most lists will no doubt be to dust off the trainers and go for a run. However, gone are the days of string vests and shorts like Ron Hill.

In order to get out of the street door most 21st century runners have to be armed with so much technology that in some instances it takes longer to get going than it takes to actually run! Over the last few day’s I have re-tweeted various free gps apps which the promoters are giving away for free during January no doubt to get them up the charts and people more aware of them. Unfortunately they are all competing against the marketing power of Nike, who the majority deemed to be one of the first GPS app makers into the market. However, this was far from the case, they just have a lot more money to spend on advertising. Interestingly enough though, currently they are one of the few apps which you have to pay for!

What is a GPS App

A GPS app is an application which sits on your smart phone and uses the onboard GPS to provide distance, speed, pace and other useful information to the runner. Most applications will then post this information back to the apps respective site where after your run you can assess your route, check out your splits and do a whole magnitude of other data processing. It provides the ultimate diary for any runner, and indeed cyclist, walker or any other hobbyist that maybe interested in how far or fast they do something. There have been equivalent watches which provide very similar functionality (at a very high cost) for a number of years but this may be the device for the casual enthusiast!

Free Apps

So far I have only played with apps on the Android and iPhone and I will be the first to admit I have not tried all of them as there are so many. But the ones I have tried are listed below

• Endemondo (iPhone / Android)

• miCoach (iPhone)

• OutFront (iPhone)

• Runkeeper (iPhone / Android)

Each one of these apps have pro’s and cons and their own unique selling point, but for me accuracy is the most important and the results of each are fairly sporadic. I think the most accurate one I used was Outfront. The results were fairly similar to my Garmin which bodes well. I would love feedback from others though as to what apps work and why. Ultimately accuracy is the most important factor but on top of that user interface is critical and where some of these win on one they fall short on the other.

Which Phones Can I Use

At the moment I have posted links for iPhones and Android phones. I know that all models of the iPhone work with all the apps above but the older models suffer from poorer GPS and hence are less accurate. I’m sure there are apps for Nokia and Windows based phones but I have yet to try them.

What about Nike+

Nike+ is simple, very simple – the user interface parallels the Apple experience and it just works. However, its not free and it also doesn’t provide as much information to the runner – in my opinion! Go for one of the other apps, download all three whilst they are free and give them a go. You aren’t wedded to any of them so play and see what you like.

Feedback

Please let me know how you go with your app by commenting below – I’d love to get feedback and construct a review post if possible!

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

Not wishing to spend every run on the dreadmill I took to the streets again last night. I planned for a 40min light run covering 5 or so miles. The pavements where I live are in that slushy/icy stage which is still to dangerous to run in without some form of spikes so I chucked on the stableicers again and set off.

I tried to stick to relatively busy roads where I knew roughly the ice would have mostly melted and as it turned out I had no slips. Somewhat by accident I added a few hills to the route – I should know this is going to happen – I ran away from London and into Essex!

As I said last time it’s much harder running in the snow, my heart rate was high even though I was traveling relatively slowly. I still have symptoms of a mild cold which probably isn’t helping matters either! Regardless of this the run went well and I had wrapped up so well this time I was actually pretty hot when I got back!!

Oh and whilst I can’t be certain as I’m not very good at celeb spotting, I’m pretty sure as I ran past Woodford Station I passed Arg from The Only Way is Essex. This would make a bit of sense as he does live in Woodford apparently! Sure, he’s no A lister but I don’t think I have ever spotted anyone else whilst out running!

10 hilly miles in Stockport was the one of the major things in my mind whilst I was taking on another glass of wine at the work Xmas do on Friday. Sure I would have recovered from the side effects of the alcohol in 2 days but I didn’t much like the thought of a nauseous train journey at 8am the following morning. So like a good boy at about 930 I stopped drinking, a wise move I think!

Staying at a hotel next to Euston meant we didn’t have to get up at silly o’clock for the journey and after a pleasant journey we were in Stockport with plans to head into Manchester city centre and the Xmas Market. Manchester was heaving, as to be expected, and frickin cold. We met up with Lauras uni friends and drank mulled wine, ate German sausage and pancakes and over the course of 6 hours I gradually lost the feeling of my hands and toes due to the cold. I don’t think any of what I had done in the buildup to this race would be listed in the 101 guide to racing and tapering. Fortunately we did manage an early night which was somewhat of a result.

With the race starting 5mins from where we staying thanks to the generous hospitality of Sam and Matt the morning was chilled. Shower, breakfast, kit up then head out. We left the house. Have I mentioned it was cold…the roads were icy and slippy – this was going to be interesting! The journey was short and before long we had collected our numbers and waiting for the off.

At 10:15 the race started, after two laps of the track we headed out of the AC and into the park. The paths were icy but before long we were on even icier roads and pavements. This race was to continue on a similar vain and I would be watching my footing throughout ensuring my race didn’t finish early due to a slip! I was prepared for a hilly race this time, unlike with Dartford, I had done a little bit of hill work locally but nothing substantial. I had no idea of the profile except there was a hill at 6miles and again at 9. Setting my virtual partner at an 8min mile pace I should definitely beat it but I wasn’t sure how hilly it was and how i’d cope with the ice. The first mile came in way ahead of the watch and so did all the subsequent miles except 1 – the 6th mile which came in at 8:01, that’d be the mile with the ‘hill’. We covered 60meters in a mile with a final steep climb of 10meters in under a tenth of a mile – tough! That said what goes up must come down (in a point to point race anyway) and a mile or so later I clocked a sub 7min mi which I was happy even if it was artificially aided by the gradient!

I well and truly obliterated my virtual partner coming in at 1hr13. Sam, who I was staying with came in just two minutes behind me, very impressive as she had set her pace at 9min/mi. Don’t think it will take her long to be overtaking me so at least I got in there first with one race! Justin, who I met at the Thunder Run also came over from Leeds to take part and he flew (finishing in 63mins), one day I hope to be able to stay with him for just one mile…one day! The last and only other 10m race I have done was the Great South in November 2008, I finished that in 01:25:34 so in just over 2 years I have taken 12 minutes off of my time – not bad!

This is the last race I am booked into in 2010 time to relax, rest and recover. I will do some light runs over the coming months but ultimately it will be an opportunity to prepare for whatever is to come in 2011!

Well done Sam and Justin for great races also for Tom Williams of Marathon Talk and his wife Helen who also ran and we bumped into at the end – it was a great event to finish the year with! It was also great to meet Justin’s girlfriend Ash who came along to support with Laura and Matt, I suspect she was a little bit envious and would have like to have been out running too!

On Sunday I somehow forced myself out of the door for a run. I don’t really know how this happened as when I woke up even though I had prepared my kit the night before had my routine breakfast almost everything was telling me not to bother! I think had I had done a few more miles during the week I would have had an excuse to use but because of the snow I hadn’t.

At 945 am I couldn’t put it off any longer and headed out of the door still uncertain what type of run I would do. During the first 10 minutes my body sulked, a high heart rate made it appear like the run was not going to be fun. However, shortly after things seemed to settle and I realised I was going at a respectable pace. Knowing I only had an hour I opted to push myself with some hills in further practice for next weekend. The route consisted of every hill I could think of bar one and all of them fairly substantial hills. There was one which was a steady incline for a long distance and the others short(ish) and sharp hill in chingford as well as other inclines.

Anyway – it turned out to be a tough but rewarding  session.