Some (most) may consider me mental but on Sunday following the settling of the snow I chucked on my kit and went for a run. I wanted to give the stableicers I bought a while back a go and figured a gentle jog couldn’t do me any harm…

Wrapped up in lots of layers at the top and wearing my a400 skins to cover my legs I left the flat. After my Garmin was hooked into the satellites (which seemed to take an eternity this time) I started to move. I had no issues whatsoever with grip, at no point did I feel I may slip however the combination of snow and the stableicers certainly tested different muscles in my legs.

I took a 6 mile route I have done countless times but never in snow. It was much tougher and more testing running on this surface. I struggled to maintain a sub 8:30 pace which seemed slow considering what I have been running recently and my heart-rate suggested I should be moving much faster!

6 miles later I was back home, reasonably dry and pretty warm all things considered. I had a nice run and the scenery was so different and much much nicer when covered with a couple of inches of snow!

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.

It may appear that I haven’t done much running recently and compared to when I was working towards Dublin/London my kit has remained quite clean! However that isn’t to say I have hung my trainers up completely. During the last 7 days I have had two very tough sessions however neither focused on endurance.

Last Wednesday following a late tip night at work I headed to Horsegaurds to meet Rich and head out for a 6mile run. I was feeling good so took the opportunity to push the pace faster than usual. Six miles at a sub 8min/mi pace and at least 3 of those closer to 7:15. It was a tough run, my heart rate was racing but it felt good especially over a relatively short distance.

On Sunday I pushed myself again with a hill session. As I live so close to London I rarely do these but thought it would be a good idea as the Stockport 10 which I am running in under a month is apparently pretty hilly! Heading to Longfield, Kent following a far from healthy brunch at Altitude 360 I kitted up at 4pm for a 40ish minute session. There are certainly some hills there and looking at the Garmin almost all of the first half was uphill. I tried to keep the pace brisk and as a result my lungs were burning! After about 6miles I trotted home – a tough but fulfilling 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

It’s Sunday evening and this morning I ran The Royal Parks Half Marathon in London. Having booked into this run at the end of March it seemed a long time coming and since that point I have done a number of other runs. My training has been pretty busy recently but today’s run was not about PB’s it was about enjoying the VERY scenic course and being in and around lots of runners in London.

Rich and I had decided during the week we would attempt to run a negative split today, this would be a nice challenge and also test to see our fitness levels. If we could run the first half at a reasonable pace but maintaining a low heart rate and then build up the speed to the end it would prove that our training over the last few months had been good. Having dropped our bags off and done the necessities we made our way to the start pens and made no attempt to go near the front. We were to set off at a 8:45 pace and we figured midway through this pen would suffice. The start was efficient and within a couple of minutes we were off, it was very difficult to force the speed slower and not be pulled along by the runners who set off at a faster pace. Fortunately, the Garmins came to our rescue – if I was going on how I felt no doubt I would have been running a 7min/mi from the start, as it turns out we went through the first mile in 8:30 so not too bad!

The first 6 miles of the course is lovely, taking in a large amounts of the sites of London, as we weren’t going hell for leather I looked up and enjoyed London in all its glory – especially with all the roads closed and lots of runners with huge smiles on there faces (it was the first six miles remember!) We maintained a pace of about 8:30-845 and entered Hyde Park at around 6 miles in 51mins. At 6 miles we opened up looking to increase our pace and hopefully maintain this until the finish. Not quite sure why we started at 6 miles, hardly half way! Anyway, from this point the splits went to about 7:30 average with the fastest being the last mile at a super speedy 7:07 – not too bad considering!

As we approached the final few hundred meters I think both of us thought we maybe able to break 1:45 and we were mighty close, coming in 9 seconds behind. Considering we set off for a 1:50 and the first 6 miles were at at 1:51 pace to reclaim 6 minutes in the second half is pretty good and to be honest those 9 seconds are irrelevant as it wasn’t a “race” for either of us.

Other than the cost, I was really impressed with the event itself and actually don’t have any gripes at all . The market was great and my goody bag is stuffed with treats which is a jackpot. The medal is lovely, and different to all the other ones I have. I would love to do it again but am not sure whether I would want to pay out quite as much for a route that I tend to run on a weekly basis with the Serpies anyway!

All in all though a cracking run, good to take it at a pace where we could have a chat and genuinely enjoy the day. As always, it was great to have Laura (and at the end Rich’s girlfriend Liz) out on the course cheering on, sorry to all those who may have seen me and I ignored, I know there were others out! Well done Soo on completing your first half marathon, hope you enjoyed it a little bit, a sterling achievement!

Gun Time: 01:45:09
First Half Split: 00:55:29
Second Half Split: 00:49:40
Difference between splits: 05:49
Average Speed: 8:00 min/mi
Average Heart Rate: 156bpm.

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

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

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

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

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

Till next time.

N

Pretty high up on the list of guidelines for times when not to run is when you have a cold. I ignored this, my cold clearly hadn’t reached the worst type of man flu levels and a quick squint at my heart rate earlier that day showed nothing abnormal. Couple that with a hard run on Wednesday when I has similar symptoms and performed fine, I was set to run.

Attempting a similar route to last week headed up-to regents canal. A nice little incline at the start getting the heart beating. As with last time I lost the canal at Islington and couldn’t find the route back so just free ran a bit. I figure if I point in the right direction eventually I’ll find somewhere I know!

After a little while I thought I was eventually lost, reaching Bethnal Green I knew where I was but couldn’t figure how to get back. Following buses I eventually made it, by total accident, to Mile End. I have run past Mile End countless time so I was back to familiar territory, head towards Stratford and then follow the Central Line back home.

Whilst running I took the opportunity to catch up on @MT, I have missed lots and lots of episodes recently but I’m gradually catching up! Unfortunately during the second episode Martin started talking about picking up the pace in the final third of the run. I tried to do this a bit but think this coupled with the gradual incline from Mile End to home finished me off!

Good run though, tough, but expected. There was the added benefit that it was done and I had the weekend to chillax, in particular I had the opportunity to see Chris at the Sports Clinic who sorted my legs!

As I write this(on Monday) I feel fully relaxed, plotting my running week ahead…

Till next time
N

Its midweek and since my long run on Friday night my running trainers have been sitting idle enjoying a rest. Obviously I was on my feet on Sunday for the Leadership in Running Course and I did do a spin session on Monday, however there has been no running.

On Tuesday I went out with my ipod loaded up with a new audiofuel track (review to follow shortly). This was a 43 minute stepped intervals session. After a 155 BPM warm up, you get 3 mins at 160 BPM, then a recovery, 3 mins at 170 BPM, then a recovery, and a 3 min sprint at 180 BPM, then a recovery. This pattern repeats twice. As you can imagine by the second time round things are getting tough and the final 180bpm pushed me HARD.

I tried to push myself equally throughout the run but with roads and crossing and evidently working on a gradient that didn’t turn out to be entirely consistent. That said I pushed my heart rate upto the high 160′s on 5/6 sessions so not too bad! At the end of the run I was suitably destroyed so I was happy!

Wednesday is “club” night and whilst we branched off from the club I still took the opportunity to use the routine of a run. I met up with Rich at his office in Horse Gaurds and having a quick tour whilst we waited for Ath. We set off for a 10miler at an 8:30-8:45 pace, heading around Hyde Park and the onto Sloane Square before heading back along the river. Looking at the splits at the end of the run it looks like we were certainly faster than the 8:30 average and baring a couple of outliers for traffic etc most splits were sub 8:15. Looking back to March time I seem to have done a lot more sub 8 runs however my heart rate now is a lot more stable and up until 8 miles my HR was below 160 in comparison to high 160′s from before.

Rest day today (Thursday) and i’m taking on lemsip to try to force away the cold that seems to be looming. Hope to go out tomorrow or the weekend and have a sports massage booked in for Saturday to get some of the rubbish out of my legs.

Till next time!

N

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!