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

Following on from my test with the Motorola Defy a few weeks back I decided to chat with Vodafone and see if I could get any other phones to have a play with and review. As with the other phone review this one is less about how good the phone is as an actual phone but more about the added extras in particular those aimed at sports men or women.

On first impressions I was surprised how heavy the phone felt given its size. It looked like it should be quite light! It also didn’t look like a typical smart phones and it certainly wasn’t to my taste. The aluminium effect seems a little dated now! That said I didn’t really care too much what was on the outside it was more about what was under the hood!

Firing it up I was presented the Symbian OS which was very alien to me. I wanted to download Sports-tracker one of the few apps available for runners on Nokia phones. However, this was not going to be a simple task as it is on iPhone and Android OS. Firstly where is the App store or Market place?! After digging a bit I found it in the ‘ovi store’ – jackpot! Find app, click install, let’s go for a run! Sadly not, didn’t install – try again, didn’t install this pattern went on repeatedly until I was close to sending it back untested.

Eventually I went on the sports tracker website and sent the phone a link to the app, the ovi app opened again and it appeared I was in the same place again. One more try I thought – and for some reason this time it installed and worked. On sunday it would join me on my long run. I downloaded the most recent MT podcast onto it – using the really poor Nokia web browser (why is it so poor still!?!), charged it up and come Sunday morning it was in my pocket joining me on 14 miles to the Olympic stadium.

At Stratford I took it out and took some snaps on the camera which was relatively seamless and all the while the running app sat in the background logging data.

When I got home I compared my watch with the phone and (in this case) credit where credit is due the two were in 1/100 of a mile difference. Not bad I thought. Ignoring the initial ‘teething’ issues the phone had done well and I was prepared to box it up and send it back.

Unfortunately for the Nokia and Sports Tracker I didn’t get round to sending it back so queued it up with some music and used it on my Tuesday Morning run into work. This time the results were poor and very very unreliable. The 8miles my gamin logged where dwarfed by the sports trackers 9.11m, however i knew which one was more reliable! When I logged onto the Nokia site it transpires I did some swimming in the Thames which I didn’t realise!

This got me thinking about the other phones I had used and the consistency of data. Fortunately with both the Nokia and Moto I had ran upto stratford due to luck more than good testing plans. I believe both were pretty accurate in these runs but less so on runs that were in a busier area. I always assumed it was due to high buildings and losing signal which causes the differences but looking at my little swim along the Thames I wonder whether it maybe something else. Purely speculating and based on no fact I wonder whether these apps work really well when plotting on a ‘road’ rather than a path or trail. The software can build in logic if each point sits on a road on it’s map as it can be a lot more precise in it’s calculations, possibly!

Whilst I deliberate and ponder in my head I suspect it still is to do with building coverage. In somewhere like central London where there are lots of tall buildings it would make sense for the app to lose signal from the satellites and the less points it can plot the less accurate the reading will be.

So at the end of all that highly scientific waffling would I go out and get this phone. Unfortunately not, I wasnt a fan of the OS, didn’t like it’s appearance too much and the sports-tracker app results left a lot to be desired!!

Once again thanks to Vodafone for supplying me with this phone to play with! Hopefully a blackberry next thus completing the range of major smartphone OS’es.

To compare the runs here is the Sports Tracker Link and the Garmin Connect Link for the same route.

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

Just before Christmas I managed to strike lucky and get my hands on a Motorola Defy to play around with. Due to a bit of fortune and good luck I got into discussion with a guy from Vodafone who is also a keen runner and has a personal project which he has set up, http://peoplerun.net/. This is very similar to my site, Havens Runners, and he was happy to send me one of these phones to play with.

Branded as ‘rugged and waterproof’ this Android phone seemed the perfect phone for British weather and also a sweaty runner like yours truly! Charged and armed with a couple of running apps over the last few weeks I have seen it through its paces. I added both the Endemodo and Runkeeper apps and tried them over various runs and scenarios – I also threw on a few tracks to listen to whilst running – albeit a very very limited collection (including the classic blast from the past We Built this City).

I love the fact that I didn’t have to worry about getting this phone wet or damp so I chucked it into my pocket or held it whilst running.  Basically,  I just went for it and hoped it would indeed live up to its ‘rugged’ reputation – which it did!

The screen is the same size as my iPhone and the quality much sharper (just to remind you I have the very dated 3g model, not the 4). The phone is MUCH smaller and lighter than most phones that run android or iOS.  It was barely bigger than my old nano and the phone could obviously take the task of a phone (shocker!), music player, camera and GPS and running distance application.

What was the verdict of the running apps?

As I mentioned earlier one of the first things I did when I got the phone was to load on some different apps. I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of what was available for the Android operating system was very limited having only really looked at apps for my iPhone. However, it didn’t take too long to find out that both endemondo and runkeeper both offered versions for this phone and away I went.

Anyone who follows this blog regularly will know that I would never go out without my Garmin so I have been able to compare the app data with what my watch displayed and on the whole the results are pretty respectable coming in very close in distance to the GPS watch data.

What has to be constantly remembered though is these apps are TOTALLY free, unlike my very expensive Garmin. The phone will also give me a map to see me home when I get lost whereas the best my watch can do is give me a compass. This phone has much, much more functionality than the watch!!

I loved this phone, so much so I would seriously consider it for my next purchase over the iPhone. The size, coupled by its relative price, replaceable battery, durability and great screen resolution makes this phone actually pretty smart. Plus its substantially cheaper than its Apple rival! If you are a runner and want a phone to match your lifestyle without worrying about damaging it then this is the one for you! I know a lot of people run with their iPhones or similar phones by wrapping them in a sandwich bag or equivalent but this is not necessary with this phone meaning you can actually use it when you need to without the added hassle! As one of those people who have tried the sarny bag method in the pouring rain it was a refreshing change not to have to do it with this phone!

Go get this phone it rocks! Cheers Vodafone for sending it out to me, you may have just got a customer out of it too!!

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!

Big news fell into my inbox and around the web yesterday – Nike are releasing a GPS watch powered by TomTom. The Nike+ SportWatch enters the market to compete alongside the Garmin, Polar and Timex range currently in production.

Nike already have a MASSIVE community of runners who used its devices on Apple products. They have had the benefit of creating very slick interfaces which work in perfect harmony with the Apple ethos.

The Nike+ SportWatch GPS is designed to be simple and intuitive with only three buttons and a Tap Screen for navigation. During the run, the new Nike+ SportWatch GPS captures location information while showing runners their time, distance, pace, and calories burned on an easy-to-read screen featuring a customizable layout. Throughout the run, the GPS receiver works in tandem with the shoe-based Nike+ Sensor to deliver highly accurate pace and distance data. This sounds much like the Garmin Footpod/GPS model but typically the other systems increase the price to have the extra footpod setup. The benefit of the footpod is that sometimes you have to run in a gym or out of satellite range – this way wherever you go you get readings!

The features seem vary similar to all other devices, heart rate monitor, backlight, history. What I’m hopeful is that some time has been spent on the user experience which is something that I often think that my garmin struggles with. The touch screen feature will be interesting to see when my hands become sweaty or are in gloves!

If I’m totally honest I wasn’t expecting Nike to release a fully fledged GPS watch, I have had a few conversations in the past how I had expected them to create a simple watch that hooks into Smart Phones (iphones/androids etc) hence using the phones GPS receiver and processing power but giving the runner the extended information in an easy to read fashion. I would have thought this would be relatively cheap to create vs what they have outputted.

It will be interesting to see how well this does in the market. Nike/Tom Tom are entering a very competitive arena and from the press info I have I’m not sure its going to be suitable for tri-athletes, no mention of waterproof,  so really is a tool for the runners of which how many will give up there £1.99 Nike+ GPS app for something that is likely to be over £100 (realistically nearer £200 I’d have expected).

Regardless of the negatives I’m very interested to see what Nike/TomTom bring to the field!

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

That’s right 3 years after setting this blog up, 163 posts later I have finally made it big time! I feature in Runners World magazine and not just a little link to an article – it’s a fully fledged editorial piece explaining how things like blogs and technology are influencing runners.

I have never pertained to think my traffic was exceptionally high, compared to where I develop during the day the amount of traffic this site gets is pitiful.  But I’m aware the appeal of my site is small, after all who would want to read the poorly spelt and punctuated musings of a 20 something going on about running…?

My story is not unique. I’m not running across the world whilst juggling hamsters for charity nor am I competing for England (or likely to be any time soon). I’m just another guy with a love for running that happens to be kinda skillful with technology. I have owned a website for years I have just never stuck at anything long enough to consider writing about. I hoped one day it would be my CV, prospective employers could look at it and I could host any of my visions on it.

At the start of 2009 it went through a redesign, it was to be my hub for raising funds for the London Marathon. I blogged about my training experiences all the while crossing new running boundaries (see from the link how excited I was to run 15/16miles!) that all virgin marathon runners experience. For me it was good to write and it seemed some read it – even if it was just close friends and family!

It wasn’t really until the the summer of ’09, when I had a break from running after the Marathon, I realised that my running was causing me to lose weight - so I blogged about it . At that point I was unaware of the whirlwind that was to follow…

I will have a longer synopsis of 2010 once I have completed my last race of the yer in Stockport, but if I thought my running in ’09 broke boundaries then ’10 smashed them. My blog let people follow my many ups and didn’t shy away from my downs. Following the disaster that was the London Marathon in April I could have easily given up running and blogging for good. For all those who were watching to see how I had done it pained and embarrassed me to write about my failure. But I did and fortunately I held onto my trainers, held my head up and looked towards my next challenge. Six months later I crossed the finish line of the Dublin Marathon smashing my personal best, the 4 hour barrier and most importantly  exercising my demons. It was on this blog that I could share my joy and happiness!

The blog is a diary, something I write on my phone as I head home from work. It acts as a time line and a reminder for the future.

If you happened to have stopped by here because of the Runners World feature (hello!) please say hi below, follow me on twitter or contact me by clicking the link at the top. If you want any advice on setting your own blog up send me a message I want to hear from you!

For any runners out there that number may possibly sound familiar, why? It is the product name of the latest Skins range. A couple of weeks ago I was invited to go test them out, unfortunately it was on the run up to Dublin and officially during the taper period. I agreed on the proviso that I would not be ‘racing’ instead I would use it as a gentle jog.

On one chilly Wednesday night Rich and I waited at Kings X for the skins lot and all others who were running to turn up before jumping in a cab up to Archway Tube Station. Given the product name Skins had come up with a challenge to see how quickly it’s customers could run the length of the A400 from Archway to Trafalgar Square and we would be the inaugural participants.

Fortunately none of the other chaps that had turned up were stupidly fast and we decided we would stick together so the plan for it to be a taper run worked out fine. The other plus is that it’s all downhill, a massive bonus!

It was a good night, running with other people is always fun especially when they are so passionate about it. The skins were great too, looks wise they are much nicer in my opinion than the last range, much more subtle and less in your face (one of the key reasons I never bought the old skins leggings). It was also very cold by the time we started running so having leggings on was a great benefit!

I have just been sent the video – that is why I waited for this post to go up – I think it came out pretty damn well! I think over the coming weeks I will head back and run the course again whilst not tapering to see what time we can achieve then!

N