Having taken yesterday as a well earned rest day (I even skipped spinning!) today I was hoping to be back in full form and legs fully recovered.

Finding only time for a quick lunchtime treadmill session I queued up my ok go interval track and did 30mins covering over 6km. Slightly short on the recommended amount for today but I’m sure that’s not to much of an issue. The bigger problem I had today was a mental one. Once again my brain was questioning what I’m doing but that could just be because it was on a treadmill and following a busy running week last week!

One other thing which I have decided today after opening my gym bag, sadly one of my pairs of trainers will not be held onto for anecdotal purposes as they absolutely stink!!! I put that down to this season being a very wet one and having done a substantial number of puddle running, it’s a shame web scratch and sniff doesn’t exist – although I’d question anyone that actually scratched!!

9miles scheduled for the morning which I will hopefully do early on a local loop. Till then.

N

I’ll be the first to admit my last few weeks of training, whilst banking plenty of miles, have not been to close to the schedule during the week. However, today’s run was spot on the requirement: 14*200meter intervals with 100meter recovery. Looking at the quick conversion maths I had to do to
put this in my Garmin I was slightly out in meaning I actually did 14*250meters and 115meter recoveries.

Today was the first time I’ve done an interval sesh like that off of the treadmill and it was tough! During the faster sections my heart rate went through the roof – I’m sure I saw 190+ at one stage! At the end of my road there is a straight path which is about 400meters long so I took myself over there and went back and forth like a yo-yo! I’m sure the dog walkers thought I was a loony! Obviously as it’s one path for over 3M there isn’t much I can report on regarding scenery, however, the sun was out but it’s still cold!

I have an 8 and a 9er tom/thurs so will be incorporating that into my journey into work somehow.

Till then.

N

Having agreed to run a gentle session with colleague Adam I was up early and heading to Holborn for 745. He wanted a 7mile session and at a 9:30-9:45 which seemed perfect to me as I knew that Tuesdays run was tough.

When I woke up I instantaneously felt some weakness in my right ankle I suspected today’s run was going to be a bit painful but as I knew it was to be quite gentle I went for it anyway. The run went quite well other than the pain in my ankle, was a bit wet but becoming used to that at the moment. It was nice to run down the river and with company, it’s been an odd couple of weeks as I have had someone to run with for all of my sessions – perfect!

I am now slightly concerned about my ankle, writing this blog 8 hours or so after running it’s still a bit achey, Sports Clinic Chris recommends it maybe worth seeing a physio which I will think about (I can claim if back on healthcare I guess!). This niggle follows a conversation over dinner where Laura talked about how I seem lucky to not get injuries….tempting fate!

May hold back on my Thursday run, may look at what I should have done this week and do one of those on a treadmill but if my ankle is still bad prob best to keep off it for another day or so.

Till next time.

N

According to the schedule today was a 4M brisk run working out at a pace of ~11.3km/h. I’m not to sure what brisk really means, should I be able to talk? Anyway, treadmill set to my current base rate of 12km/h I ran the 6.4kms without any real issues and suspect I could possibly just hold a conversation at that pace.

Rest day tomorrow which is cool, think I may target the hills for Saturdays short run although plans may change with that and Sundays long run may have to be moved to Sat because of what day it is…

Till next time

N

Once again I opted for the treadmill, I’m sure this is counter productive but find this is the only way to push myself. I’m glad I did it before work as had planned for 2 sessions today the sprints and then a niketown after work (the first of the season) but due to work constraints and the launching of a rather last minute tool I had to skip this evening.

I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable with my base rate at 12km/h which is reassuring as a few weeks ago I wasn’t really feeling it. I sprint intervaled  today 400me/200recovevy pushing top speed around the 17.4km/h. Twas tough – as usual, but the schedule required 9 intervals which I did. Did some stretches then headed to work (early – fool!).

As an aside on Sunday I listened to the latest marathon talk podcast and there was an interesting bit in there that talked about weight and running, can’t remember the precise numbers but something like for every pound you lose you can expect to lose 2seconds off your mile time. I found that interesting, whilst I wouldn’t classify myself as overweight I certainly have a bit of excess fat which if I cut out sweets and chips I’m sure I could lose, hence I’m watching what I eat for a little bit to see if it helps…also whilst talking about marathon talk, I got a mention in the last one Finally I’m famous! hehe

Till tomorrows long run

N

I’m glad I played with my running schedule now and did my long run on weds as it wasn’t poss on Sat/Sun to fit the 12M in. I did however manage 6 or so miles on the dreadmill which was fairly uneventful – as usual!

With that treadmill session in mind it means I ran about 30M last week with no issues which is good.

W6 takes me over to niketown again for a 7miler as well as (weather dependent) a run to work picking up a colleague on route to push me through the final few miles…busy week of running – let’s hope the predicted snow keeps away!

Till Tuesday…

N

Nothing much to report today, didn’t really have time for the full distance before work this morning, managed 7k at 12km/h (on a treadmill of course). Seemed pretty tough today actually but don’t know whether I just didn’t really have my heart in it.

Rest day tomorrow! Wooooo looking forward to a day off, heading for a weekend break with a hotel with a swimming pool which will be nice to use on Sat/Sun where I’m scheduled for a 4M/12M. Hopefully Sunday will be fine based on Wednesdays similar distance run.

Still dubious how I’m going to pick up the pace but hoping that building up the distances helps with the speed!!

Till next time.

N

According to today’s schedule I was set to cover 5Miles with 3 of them at a fast pace. As I’m not very good at doing fast sessions on my own on the road I once again headed to the treadmill. I think soon I need to try upping the pace on the road so I know that I can close to doing what I do in the gym.

The schedule required the 3M to be covered at approx 8:15/M as I write this blog my brain has kicked in and I’m starting to wonder whether I actually ran fast enough (I hope I did). I set off at 15km/h and throughout the 4.6km I did not drop below 14km/h. Was that fast enough? (Goes off to get paper and do maths…) Oh good, as expected, much faster than the required 12km/h – good good I guess that makes sense as RW define it as ‘brisk’ hopefully my changing it to a fast isn’t an issue!

That’s my 3 midweek runs done, at the weekend I have a slow jog in prep for a ‘race’ style event. Apparently by now I should be able to do a sub 47min 10k and tomorrow I will plot out my route and give it a whirl. I think this is going to be ambitious but who knows, I think in the summer I got a 10k to sub 46 so I know I can do it, it is just whether my body is ready for it yet. That said, I have booked in a session to see Chris at the Sports Clinic on Saturday which should hopefully see away the last knots and twinges I have in my leg from skiing!

Till next time…

I sit writing this on my phone overlooking a mountain and that may explain why w3 of training was can celled…much like last year I incorporated a week of skiing into my training schedule however unlike last year I haven’t even done one run…the promise of a treadmill at the hotel made me think I would at least get in an interval run but the day I tried (Tuesday) the treadmill proceeded to cut out and restart every minute. After about 10mins and 1km later I gave up and that was my training! I am hoping that the stresses and pressure on my legs whilst skiing can’t have done a disservice and perhaps I will be able to resume into w4 without issues!

Just before flying to Andorra on Sunday I did manage to fit in a Saturday morning long slow run. The snow had finally melted and it was the first opportunity in weeks to get out onto the roads. However, whilst the snow had gone the rain came down and I possibly was out in the wettest conditions I have experienced (including last years training!).

I opted to try a new route, which turned out to be a bad idea, the first 8 or so miles went pretty well albeit on a really dull set of roads. However at about the 8m point I managed to hit a forest trail. First instincts told me to turn round however I didn’t and 1m further I found myself on a muddy path leading onto a waterlogged park(snow had just melted). My trainers now weighed double and my socks were sopping. I took this as a sign to find the quickest and shortest route home as not sure I really wanted to get more blisters which seemed poss given how wet I was! » Continue reading “W3 Cancelled (Includes W2 D5 The Long Run)”

Not a particularly exciting post today as it was just listed in the schedule as a gentle 4miler as a precursor to the Long Short Run I will be doing tomorrow. These (normally) Saturday runs seem a little peculiar to me and didn’t feature at all last year in my own training – the schedule has these short sub 5M runs every week and I guess they must have them for a reason!

Anyway not much to report, treadmill run, 40 mins or so 6.4km pre work session followed by a quick steam then done. I’m not really sure what to do about tomorrows run, the ‘schedule’ has me down to do 9M over 86 mins however this seems to be regressing when it comes to distance so I’m going to adhere to the pace they recommend but extend it to about 14 miles or that of the W6 schedule (2hr 15mins). Not sure what route I will do but to be safe I intend a bit of a loop bringing me back to near the flat at around 10/11M just in case! Will blog tomorrow with an update, hopefully be out on the roads by 9ish.

As an aside I follow Liz Yelling on Twitter and notice she was involved in a podcast which I listened to this morning, apart from the odd sound issues which I’ll ignore as it’s a first show it has it wasn’t too bad. For all you commuters out there with iPhones and iPods subscribe and have a listen, it may motivate you into doing another run when excuses are being made I hope his flourishes into a nice weekly podcast, see www.marathontalk.com for more info.