For a few weeks I had been somewhat looking forward to last week. The schedule looked on paper to be relatively forgiving baring the weekend LSR. There were no sessions scheduled for the Thursday and in fact every run had the word ‘Easy’ by it. Jackpot!

However, on Wednesday I was about to realise perhaps things were indeed easier but they were still runs none the less. The relatively short 5k I chuckled about as I took to the treadmill, simples I thought! However, 20mins later, sweating like anything it was actually bloody tough and I couldn’t have pressed the stop button any quicker.

Thursday was similar – an easy 6 miles scheduled so I jogged back from Stratford. As I was on the tube on the way to the start I was telling myself ‘yesterday was a blip -today really will seem easy’. From the first 100m I realised once again that wouldn’t be the case and it was going to be a more challenging than expected run home. To give me a little bit of credit I did have my camelback on which adds about half a stone to my weight which doesn’t help matters!

I entered the house feeling dejected. In what felt like a few short seconds my three easy days were over – and none of them felt easy. What was that about?! After a few texts with a woman in the know I was informed this was to be expected following heavy training. That said she also informed me I could be coming down with a cold. I tried to have an early night and similarly on Friday my allocated rest day.

Once again due to plans and arrangements my LSR was shifted to Saturday and I was scheduled to run 2hr15. I sorted my kit out on Friday night, gels etc. I’m trying to get back into the SIS Tropical gels having been suggested it possibly isnt the best idea to only take the caffeine ones as I did in Dublin. Laura had to do something for her school in Bromley so I decided to go with her and run towards my nan in Kennington from the other side of the river.

I was also fortunate to have Olly company for a portion of my run. I ran a few times with Olly last year, meeting him in Greenwich and once again we met in Blackheath and following a quick handover of wallet etc we were on our way to London Bridge. I am normally pretty meticulous with gMap Pedometer and plan my route out however today I knew that I was likely to come out short so would have to do laps at the end.

The south side of the river is much less enjoyable to run along than the north. On the other side there is a footpath that runs all the way from docklands with only a few deviations for new properties this is not the case on the south! Mental note to self there!

The run itself went ok. The 16 miles turned out to be 17 but mainly because I forgot to restart my watch at Blackheath. My heart rate was up on last weeks LSR and I failed to take on a third gel which may have helped during my final few miles and where I really did slow down!

As I finished and whilst consuming a recovery shake I started to ponder more about the week that had passed. Why had things seemingly been so bad? I think the problem stemmed from my brain giving the wrong message to my body. It was a recovery week NOT a rest week. For some this may amount to the same thing, for me I now know the difference!

Recovery week done, back to sessions this week and the likelihood of having to do some shuffling about due to another busy week of commitments.

Till next time.

N

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

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

…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

Very rarely do I have a back to back week of sport and fitness but from mon-friday this week I can genuinely say it’s been pretty good.

On Tuesday before tip day I headed to baker st fitness first bright and early to do a fast treadmill 5k and then cover about 400m in the pool. The run went well and I think (with some holding on) I came through the 5k in 20-21mins (no doubt my heart rate was through the roof) with the obligatory 1% incline to make it more like the outdoors. Quick change into my far from professional board shorts and still red faced I was in the pool to cover the 20 or so lengths I wanted to do. As a little treat I went to the steam room then headed in for a standard “fun” Tuesday.

Wednesday was Serpentine night and whilst I has half hoped to swim again in the morning the later night before meant I wasn’t up for it when the alarm went off. I had intended on taking a steady pace about the 8-8:15 min mile kind of level but typical to form I stuck with the chaps I have run with before and clocked a 7:30 average. Unlike the 7min day I did a bit more stretches on Wednesday and writing this on Friday I am in nowhere near as much pain as back after that.

Thursday was my R&R day, nothing fitness related at all and also had the pleasure of visiting the Meat and Wine co. in Westfield for a great meal with Laura – lots of meat, not the healthiest but hey it was good!!

Finally today, Friday. I have had a busy day organised but managed to fit in a very short but reasonably paced swim session. I pushed myself hard enough to raise my heart rate and also upon finding my goggles again I found it much easier to get into a better rhythm! Felt great at the end of it and the rest of the ‘working’ day was to follow…

Sunday I have ‘Kent’s most exciting race’ as the sweatshop emails have reminded my numerous times and I’m heading to Bluewater 10k. Bit hesitant for my time here – it was fairly hilly and I’m not sure whether I will be able to beat my Newham 10k time which was in the peak of my training. That said I should be able to beat my time of 48:52 last year I hope…

Update of the race to follow on Sunday.

N

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

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

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

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

420 miles covered, gallons of energy drinks consumed and several energy gels swallowed all in order to train for the one of the biggest marathons in the world.

This post maybe better suited following the run but I think the huge amount of training that I have done is easily lost in the glory (or not!) of the big day itself. Therefore, after 16 weeks of training unlike anything I have ever done before, and yes I did run the marathon last year, I am going to share my ups and downs since January 1 2010.

I was fortunate to get a place in this years marathon around September time, for the months leading up to the new year I knew I ought to go out for a run but I didn’t. Luckily, I still hadn’t lost fitness and on an initial ‘tester’ run I managed a half marathon distance, it was tough but a good footing for the months to come. At the beginning of the year I had an email from Runners World stating 16 weeks to go, so I decided this year I would take a schedule and stick to it…for 16 weeks!
» Continue reading “Virgin London Mararthon: Before…”

Today I was listed as doing a relatively short interval session. I opted to hit the dreadmill to control the intervals so during lunch I headed to the gym. 8x400m with 200m recovery was all that was listed today and after 20 or so my run was complete. Stayed on the treadmill till 5km was completed then I treated myself to 10mins in the sauna.

4m jog listed for tomorrow. Will try get that done in the morning or if not during lunch again. Also off to the expo to get my number – it’s almost time!!

Till then.

N

Completely unscheduled following shifting my long run to Friday I decided to go out for a very short gentle run.

It always amazes me how two runs can feel completely different – during this run if you’d have asked what I found more difficult the last 3miles of the long run or the run I was on I would have said the former. My legs felt heavy and nothing seemed to be smooth.

Oh well, to be expected really as my body was still recovering from the long run. Treadmill interval session for Tuesday to get my legs moving fast again!

The last post I wrote had me complaining about having heavy legs following the 10k, since that point I did a fastish treadmill session in the gym on Thursday clocking up 6kms which was again felt heavy and on Saturday morning I went for my 3M ‘easy’ run around the block as a warmup. Fortunately the rest day on Friday seemed to go someway to help with the recovery of my legs and Saturdays run felt much better. However as a bonus I was booked into see Chris over at the sports clinic for a 20min session on my legs – perfect pre race massage!

The massage was excellent and left my legs feeling a lot better than earlier and with the added knowledge that I wasn’t showing any real signs of damage I left the clinic ready for Sundays run, although at that point I hadn’t decided whether to race or just take it as a training run, although Chris did say as I left – go and crack 1:45, i’m sure you can.

Sunday arrived and with all the negative press that Silverstone seems to receive I don’t think I was looking forward to it as much as I possibly should – reports of difficulties getting in and out of the course on top of a dull circuit filled me with a bit of dread on the 1 and a bit hour drive. Fortunately, as always, Laura offered to come along and do the driving as well as watch from the sidelines and take photos, this is always a blessing – to have company before and after an event is perfect as it stops me stressing and getting worked up, not what you need before a race!

We got to Silverstone at about 1015 ish, plenty early for the noon start. We pottered down to the start areas and had a look at the shops before I started the lengthy process of sorting out my kit. Gel belt, heart rate monitor, pre-race isotonic drink, toilet break, banana….this routine takes almost as long as running the race but I find it works so I may as well stick to it. At 11:15 over the tannoy we were ushered into the pens, so I left my hoody with Laura and headed in – bad move. It was actually pretty damn cold still and I realised at this point I would be hanging around for 45mins without a jumper – did they really need 45mins to enter pens? On top of this because I got cold my body decided it needed the loo but I decided to hold it, if I needed to go during the route I would grudgingly have to stop!

Bang on midday Martin Yelling started the race and we were off – as usual I set off faster than I had really intended on and found myself running with the sub 8min runners. I tried to take the pace down a bit but judging by my Garmin that didn’t really happen! I managed to maintain a sub 8min/mi for the whole course – averaging 07:43 min/mi and according to my chip time I came in at 1:41:52 a new PB knocking 6 1/2 mins off my previous PB of 3 weeks prior (Laura – you were right I did a 1:48) and amazingly about 20mins off my Half Mara time of last year. On top of that my 10k chip time was sub 45 mins @ 44:15 another PB for me!

Obviously as I hit PB’s the run was incredible for me – it was tough but it wasn’t a killer I’m not sure I had another half in my legs at that speed but that is to be expected really! Marathon training is going well this year All in all a great run, wide course with no bottlenecks which is perfect! Would I do it again? If i was chasing a PB again then possibly, if I was going for scenery then probably not!See 19Mile Splits

Chip Timer Splits
Split Time
5K 00:23:25
10K 00:44:15
15K 01:11:25
20K 01:35:07

place (total) 671
place (gender) 614
place (cat) 484
finish time 01:41:52
http://silverstone.r.mikatiming.de/2010/index.php?content=detail&type=&id=0000030F5ECC83000005416E&lang=EN&event=SVRM&ageclass=