It's been a while since I last blogged and it probably hasn't escaped the attention of regular readers of the blog but thought I owed it to my blog to just check in and say what's going on.
Things seemed to be going well. I was starting to feel quite fit and then all of a sudden I felt massively wiped out and decided to have a few days off running. That few days running soon turned into a 'I'll go tomorrow', then I didn't and so the spiral continued. I have now not run for over a month. It is fair to say that project 2:20 is well and truly buried. At least for now.
I am fairly obsessive as a character, I'm kind of an all or nothing guy and when I started to realise that 2:20 was looking like it would be unforeseeable unfortunately I threw in the towel. This if anything shows the danger with chasing arbitrary time goals, that ultimately don't matter to anyone but yourself. It is too easy to get enveloped by the enormity of the task that every little set back has a compounding effect on your mental and physical state. Of course I have recently switched to a vegan diet although that clearly went to pot once it was officially game over with respect to Berlin. Maybe I was just asking too much of myself? The training, the pressure I have been putting on myself, the diet, some personal issues that I have at the moment that are somewhat hard to deal with. Looking back I have trained very hard for the last three years and maybe my body was just screaming out for bit more of a rest.
I am now in the stage of acceptance. I was incredibly grumpy for a couple of weeks then had a family holiday which I allowed myself to properly relax and enjoy all the things that I would tend to limit myself on (think IPA and Polish donuts). I then came back from holiday but there have still been some ups and downs with how I feel. Dare I say it however, I now feel like I am ready to get the shoes back on and get back out there. Chris Greenwood, a good friend and frankly awesome runner, very kindly messaged me to remind me of why I run. He reminded me of the reasons I started. When I started out running, it wasn't to become a decent club runner who would go on to represent England at the marathon or any other even loftier goals, but to shed a bit of timber and try to get a bit of my self respect back. I enjoyed it, so I kept doing it until I found that I was a reasonable runner. Of course I have always been obsessive and there is an incredibly competitive streak in my genes but I never thought that would be channelled through running. At least not in my adult life!
Dave Archer another friend and runner reminded me that I need to just chill the f^&k out with things and whilst it is easier said than done, maybe I do! Just a little! Yes I have some internal debate in my mind about the vegan diet and whether I can make it compatible with the running I still want to do. I believe that following a plant-based diet is the best for one's health, as well as many other reasons but perhaps I should have transitioned to it a little slower especially given the training that I was starting to put myself through.
The blogging? I love blogging especially in the build up to a race as it's a great outlet for how training has been going and others seem to find it interesting (God help you all!) but I do feel I need to take a break for a short while just so I can get back to the love of running. The simple process of putting one foot in front of the other, the heart pounding and the lungs gasping for air followed by that immense serenity that can only come after a hard run has finished. I miss those things and without them in my life I'm not the same person so I must get back to it as I know how much joy it brings me. Running is a simple sport, perhaps that's what makes it beautiful? We were born to run and I am a runner. I just need to start running again! So please forgive me if there is a radio silence for a while. I just need to get going again.
Right, where are my shoes?
Saturday 9 September 2017
Monday 31 July 2017
Project 2:20 - Berlin or Bust: Week 2 of 10
M 9 miles HA (6:51mm), 6.5 miles (7:33mm)
T 14 miles including 20 mins, 4X3mins, 15 mins (6:18mm)
W 6 miles (7:30mm), 10 miles (6:35mm)
T 9 miles HA (6:50mm), 5 miles (7:48mm)
F 11 miles (6:39mm), 4 miles (7:15mm)
S 6 miles (7:47mm)
S 20 miles including 17 Progressive (5:50mm)
Total 101 miles (6:46mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1009 Vs 1090 beats per mile
Weight 146.5lbs Vs 147.6lbs
Body Fat 12.18% (17.85lbs) Vs 12.92% (19.06lbs)
Lean Body Mass 83.37% (122.43lbs) Vs 82.72% (122.07lbs)
Water 62.42% (91.44lbs) Vs 61.5% (90.7%)
I had been hoping to build on the mileage a bit this week but as it turned out I did exactly the same as last week. I felt pretty smoked on Saturday so just did an easy 6 to make sure I could give my Sunday run a decent effort. Mike kindly reminded me that last week I was a bit of an idiot trying to do two hard days with only one easy day between. It could well have been that that was finally catching up with me!
As I mentioned on last weeks Vlog I wanted to do the same Marathon Session as I had done on the Treadmill last week, but this time on the road to get a gauge of where my fitness is. I did this on Tuesday so three days after my long run. It went OK with the first 20 minutes coming in at 5:38 per mile. I then probably did the efforts a touch too hard averaging around 5:10 per mile. It was then on to the final 20 minutes at marathon effort but I quickly realised that I could bitten off more than I could chew and I started to slow so cut that short at 15 minutes. Mike often reminds me how important it is to not dig yourself a hole so on reflection I'm actually quite proud of myself for being sensible on (at least) two occasions this week when it may have been easier to take heed of my obsessiveness and grind the sessions out!
This week also saw the re-introduction of some Heat Acclimation runs and I will continue to do a couple of these a week. I was a proper sweaty mess after the first attempt!
Aerobic efficiency has taken a big leap forward to 1009 beats per mile with a few runs coming in at sub 1000 beats per mile. This is a good indicator for me that I am starting to show some signs of fitness. It's all down to consistency and the past few weeks of just getting out there and getting it done goes a long way to bringing this number down.
I have also dropped a bit of weight and over a pound in body fat so need to keep up with that as I am still rather lardy. If I can run well when lardy, I should fly when I'm actually at race weight so maybe there is a benefit to training quite chunky in the short term?!?!
T 14 miles including 20 mins, 4X3mins, 15 mins (6:18mm)
W 6 miles (7:30mm), 10 miles (6:35mm)
T 9 miles HA (6:50mm), 5 miles (7:48mm)
F 11 miles (6:39mm), 4 miles (7:15mm)
S 6 miles (7:47mm)
S 20 miles including 17 Progressive (5:50mm)
Total 101 miles (6:46mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1009 Vs 1090 beats per mile
Weight 146.5lbs Vs 147.6lbs
Body Fat 12.18% (17.85lbs) Vs 12.92% (19.06lbs)
Lean Body Mass 83.37% (122.43lbs) Vs 82.72% (122.07lbs)
Water 62.42% (91.44lbs) Vs 61.5% (90.7%)
I had been hoping to build on the mileage a bit this week but as it turned out I did exactly the same as last week. I felt pretty smoked on Saturday so just did an easy 6 to make sure I could give my Sunday run a decent effort. Mike kindly reminded me that last week I was a bit of an idiot trying to do two hard days with only one easy day between. It could well have been that that was finally catching up with me!
A shorter Vlog this week
As I mentioned on last weeks Vlog I wanted to do the same Marathon Session as I had done on the Treadmill last week, but this time on the road to get a gauge of where my fitness is. I did this on Tuesday so three days after my long run. It went OK with the first 20 minutes coming in at 5:38 per mile. I then probably did the efforts a touch too hard averaging around 5:10 per mile. It was then on to the final 20 minutes at marathon effort but I quickly realised that I could bitten off more than I could chew and I started to slow so cut that short at 15 minutes. Mike often reminds me how important it is to not dig yourself a hole so on reflection I'm actually quite proud of myself for being sensible on (at least) two occasions this week when it may have been easier to take heed of my obsessiveness and grind the sessions out!
This week also saw the re-introduction of some Heat Acclimation runs and I will continue to do a couple of these a week. I was a proper sweaty mess after the first attempt!
Aerobic efficiency has taken a big leap forward to 1009 beats per mile with a few runs coming in at sub 1000 beats per mile. This is a good indicator for me that I am starting to show some signs of fitness. It's all down to consistency and the past few weeks of just getting out there and getting it done goes a long way to bringing this number down.
I have also dropped a bit of weight and over a pound in body fat so need to keep up with that as I am still rather lardy. If I can run well when lardy, I should fly when I'm actually at race weight so maybe there is a benefit to training quite chunky in the short term?!?!
Monday 24 July 2017
Project 2:20 - Berlin or Bust: Week 1 of 10
M 14 miles Fartlek (6:00mm)), 5 miles (6:57mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:40mm), 5 miles (7:39mm)
W 9 miles Fartlek (6:37mm) 5 miles (7:29mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:42mm), 5 miles (7:40mm)
F 6 miles (6:27mm)
S 20 miles Split Progressive (6:15mm)
S 11 miles (6:32mm)
Total 101 miles (6:37mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1090 beats per mile
Weight 147.6lbs
Body Fat 12.92% (19.06lbs)
Lean Body Mass 82.72% (122.07lbs)
Water 61.5% (90.7lbs)
As some will know, I have set up a YouTube Channel and Facebook Page to ease my narcissistic tendencies. If you would rather watch me chat through this week's diary then please feel free to watch the link below, subscribe, like, comment and all that palaver. For those that rather read what I've been up to then please just go to below the video.
My first week of 10 in the build-up to Berlin went pretty well on the whole. I had a couple of sessions and a split progressive long run. It was also nice to be back into three figures, mileage wise.
Monday, I jumped on the treadmill and did 20 minutes, 4X3minuts, 20 minutes and set the 20 minute efforts at 17.3kph and the 3 minute efforts at 18.3kph. It was a tough workout but a classic introducer session to the harder ones to come. I then did a fartlek on Wednesday and was intending to do 15X1minute hard (20kph) on the treadmill but it quickly became clear that my legs had not recovered sufficiently from Monday and Tuesday's mils so instead cut it to eight efforts. This was a sensible thing to do and on reflection I probably should have done this session on the Thursday.
It was then all about the weekend and as the pre-long run/session anxiety set in I realised it was going to be a proper slog! Especially when I woke up to Biblical rain. This one I had told myself I should od on the road though as the treadmill really cant replicate what you get from the road in terms of impact. I decided that I would do it as a split progressive long run on a my flat tempo loop. Having toyed with the idea of doing a hilly 22 miles at a steady rate I figured it would make more sense to do something a bit more specific to the marathon and get some decent chunks in at high aerobic paces. So I did a 10 mile chunk at 6:07mm, three minutes jog and then 5 miles at 5:47mm. The 5:47s felt tough, about marathon effort so I certainly have some work to do over the coming weeks! This sort of session should bring my aerobic fitness on a chunk though so I hope to see some quick returns over the coming days.
T 10.5 miles (6:40mm), 5 miles (7:39mm)
W 9 miles Fartlek (6:37mm) 5 miles (7:29mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:42mm), 5 miles (7:40mm)
F 6 miles (6:27mm)
S 20 miles Split Progressive (6:15mm)
S 11 miles (6:32mm)
Total 101 miles (6:37mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1090 beats per mile
Weight 147.6lbs
Body Fat 12.92% (19.06lbs)
Lean Body Mass 82.72% (122.07lbs)
Water 61.5% (90.7lbs)
As some will know, I have set up a YouTube Channel and Facebook Page to ease my narcissistic tendencies. If you would rather watch me chat through this week's diary then please feel free to watch the link below, subscribe, like, comment and all that palaver. For those that rather read what I've been up to then please just go to below the video.
My first week of 10 in the build-up to Berlin went pretty well on the whole. I had a couple of sessions and a split progressive long run. It was also nice to be back into three figures, mileage wise.
Monday, I jumped on the treadmill and did 20 minutes, 4X3minuts, 20 minutes and set the 20 minute efforts at 17.3kph and the 3 minute efforts at 18.3kph. It was a tough workout but a classic introducer session to the harder ones to come. I then did a fartlek on Wednesday and was intending to do 15X1minute hard (20kph) on the treadmill but it quickly became clear that my legs had not recovered sufficiently from Monday and Tuesday's mils so instead cut it to eight efforts. This was a sensible thing to do and on reflection I probably should have done this session on the Thursday.
It was then all about the weekend and as the pre-long run/session anxiety set in I realised it was going to be a proper slog! Especially when I woke up to Biblical rain. This one I had told myself I should od on the road though as the treadmill really cant replicate what you get from the road in terms of impact. I decided that I would do it as a split progressive long run on a my flat tempo loop. Having toyed with the idea of doing a hilly 22 miles at a steady rate I figured it would make more sense to do something a bit more specific to the marathon and get some decent chunks in at high aerobic paces. So I did a 10 mile chunk at 6:07mm, three minutes jog and then 5 miles at 5:47mm. The 5:47s felt tough, about marathon effort so I certainly have some work to do over the coming weeks! This sort of session should bring my aerobic fitness on a chunk though so I hope to see some quick returns over the coming days.
My body composition has improved slightly which is good but I do have a long way to go to get into racing shape. The picture on the left shows me at the start of the week and the picture on the right shows me early April when I was in great shape before London. Of course I got ill and then had to reassess my Spring targets. Dave Archer, a chum of mine kindly commented 'so what you're saying is, you've never been thin?' :-) I do believe that I could get a bit leaner than the second photo but want to ensure I don't do it at the expense of getting ill (again) or injured.
Thursday 13 July 2017
Project 2:20 - Berlin or Bust
M 8 miles (7:00mm)
T 10 miles (6:42mm), 5 miles (8:16mm)
W 10 miles inc. 3X15mins (6:19mm)
T 11 miles (7:03mm), 5 miles (8:27mm)
F 8 miles (7:10mm)
S 17.5 miles (7:14mm)
S 10.5 miles (7:07mm)
Total 85 miles (7:08mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1160 beats per mile
Weight 148.9lbs
Body Fat 13.42% (19.98lbs)
Lean Body Mass 82.23% (122.43lbs)
Water 60.7% (90.38lbs)
Last week I blogged about my plans and dilemmas for this Autumn and having had some great feedback I came up with a plan. The advice generally pointed towards me giving Berlin a fair crack of the whip but I couldn't get Winschoten out of my mind and trying to achieve the standard for the World Championships next year. Mike & I discussed briefly and I felt that I really wanted to give myself the best opportunity to qualify for the World 100k championships. I decided that I would rather try to get the standard now if I can as there aren't too many opportunities to run a fast 100k and Winschoten is definitely the place to try. That said, having had a further week to mull things over I have now changed my mind! So flaky I know! Instead, I will be focusing all my attention on one last big effort to break the 2:20 barrier for the marathon before moving on to longer distances. Berlin is the place to do it. I should still have a couple of opportunities in the Spring to run a fast 100k.
The training that I do over the next few weeks will therefore be building back the miles, and trying to regain some of that marathon fitness I have had in the not too distant past. Hopefully the stars will align this time to allow my dreams to come true. I feel I could have gone under 2:20 at Berlin in 2015 had it not been for getting a stitch and last year at Toronto, I was definitely in shape to run 2:20 had it not been for the conditions on the day and possibly being slightly affected by jetlag.
So my first week back and on the whole it went pretty well. I managed 85 miles and one session of 3X15minutes on Wednesday. In a weird way I like feeling unfit as you get to see improvements with virtually every run. Aerobically I feel in a poor state of fitness and this is displayed by high heart rates in all of my runs and the resulting poor 'aerobic efficiency' This week it averaged 1160 beats per mile and if I am fit it will typically be in the range of 930-950 beats per mile! I haven't been paying too much attention to my heart rate on my runs and in fact rarely do as I rather run to feel so for my main runs I have been running at a 'moderate' intensity and for my second run have been running really easy/recovery type effort.
The first week of my plant-based diet has gone well too. I have set up a separate blog for this too if anyone is interested in reading. www.plant-basedobsessive.com Unfortunately I haven't been 100% plant-based but more through bad luck than 'failing'. I noticed that the muesli that I regularly eat has 'skimmed milk powder' in it so will finish the box and then move on to a type that definitely has none in! I also had a couple of bottles of Theakston's Old Peculiar which I learned is also not Vegan as they use Isinglass (part of a fish's bladder!) as part of their process. I was relieved to learn that all bottled beers produced by Black Sheep do not use isinglass in their process so that will be my go to tipple form now on! Another vegan friendly brewer is Brewdog and I am a big fan of their craft beers. Although as I get closer to the race I will certainly not be drinking!
So there we have it, I have settled on a plan and I am somewhat relieved as I can now start the prep fully focused on what lies ahead. I will likely follow a very similar plan to Berlin '15 & Toronto '16 but I will probably avoid the Special Block this time around as I don't believe it is entirely necessary, certainly not for an amateur like me and it could well have been my undoing at London this year, pushing me over the edge which resulted in me getting ill.
T 10 miles (6:42mm), 5 miles (8:16mm)
W 10 miles inc. 3X15mins (6:19mm)
T 11 miles (7:03mm), 5 miles (8:27mm)
F 8 miles (7:10mm)
S 17.5 miles (7:14mm)
S 10.5 miles (7:07mm)
Total 85 miles (7:08mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1160 beats per mile
Weight 148.9lbs
Body Fat 13.42% (19.98lbs)
Lean Body Mass 82.23% (122.43lbs)
Water 60.7% (90.38lbs)
Last week I blogged about my plans and dilemmas for this Autumn and having had some great feedback I came up with a plan. The advice generally pointed towards me giving Berlin a fair crack of the whip but I couldn't get Winschoten out of my mind and trying to achieve the standard for the World Championships next year. Mike & I discussed briefly and I felt that I really wanted to give myself the best opportunity to qualify for the World 100k championships. I decided that I would rather try to get the standard now if I can as there aren't too many opportunities to run a fast 100k and Winschoten is definitely the place to try. That said, having had a further week to mull things over I have now changed my mind! So flaky I know! Instead, I will be focusing all my attention on one last big effort to break the 2:20 barrier for the marathon before moving on to longer distances. Berlin is the place to do it. I should still have a couple of opportunities in the Spring to run a fast 100k.
The training that I do over the next few weeks will therefore be building back the miles, and trying to regain some of that marathon fitness I have had in the not too distant past. Hopefully the stars will align this time to allow my dreams to come true. I feel I could have gone under 2:20 at Berlin in 2015 had it not been for getting a stitch and last year at Toronto, I was definitely in shape to run 2:20 had it not been for the conditions on the day and possibly being slightly affected by jetlag.
So my first week back and on the whole it went pretty well. I managed 85 miles and one session of 3X15minutes on Wednesday. In a weird way I like feeling unfit as you get to see improvements with virtually every run. Aerobically I feel in a poor state of fitness and this is displayed by high heart rates in all of my runs and the resulting poor 'aerobic efficiency' This week it averaged 1160 beats per mile and if I am fit it will typically be in the range of 930-950 beats per mile! I haven't been paying too much attention to my heart rate on my runs and in fact rarely do as I rather run to feel so for my main runs I have been running at a 'moderate' intensity and for my second run have been running really easy/recovery type effort.
The first week of my plant-based diet has gone well too. I have set up a separate blog for this too if anyone is interested in reading. www.plant-basedobsessive.com Unfortunately I haven't been 100% plant-based but more through bad luck than 'failing'. I noticed that the muesli that I regularly eat has 'skimmed milk powder' in it so will finish the box and then move on to a type that definitely has none in! I also had a couple of bottles of Theakston's Old Peculiar which I learned is also not Vegan as they use Isinglass (part of a fish's bladder!) as part of their process. I was relieved to learn that all bottled beers produced by Black Sheep do not use isinglass in their process so that will be my go to tipple form now on! Another vegan friendly brewer is Brewdog and I am a big fan of their craft beers. Although as I get closer to the race I will certainly not be drinking!
So there we have it, I have settled on a plan and I am somewhat relieved as I can now start the prep fully focused on what lies ahead. I will likely follow a very similar plan to Berlin '15 & Toronto '16 but I will probably avoid the Special Block this time around as I don't believe it is entirely necessary, certainly not for an amateur like me and it could well have been my undoing at London this year, pushing me over the edge which resulted in me getting ill.
Thursday 6 July 2017
Autumn Plans/Dilemmas!
If you'd asked me four weeks ago what the objective for autumn was, it would have been a simple answer; race the Winschoten 100k in September and get the Team GB standard for the 2018 World 100k Championships which will be held in Croatia. However after a bout of illness that wouldn't shift and inconsistent training I decided to have a full two weeks off to try and let my body recover. However, given the break and being back running now feeling the most unfit I have felt in years I am debating what I should focus on as my A-Race! I have a few options; Winschoten (10 weeks), Berlin Marathon (12 weeks) or Yorkshire Marathon (14 weeks). I am also entered for Gdansk Marathon which is looking like it may well be a steady effort as opposed to an all out attempt given it's only six weeks away!
Option 1 - Winschoten 100k
The standard for next year's World Championships is likely to be sub 6:55 and I feel I have this in me. As readers will know I ran my first ultra at this year's British Championships but was unsuccessful in completing the distance. I got to 85k before I called it a day. I learnt some valuable lessons and if I can rectify the mistakes I would hope to get the required time to represent GB at next year's World Championships. There is no doubt that I will have my work cut out. Firstly the standard in GB ultra running right now is pretty phenomenal. Lee Grantham ran a genuinely world class 6:42 at the British Championships and Steve Way ran a staggering debut 5:48 at the 87k Comrades Up run this year, finishing in a brilliant 9th place.
These two guys have to be first on the selection list for next year's Championships given their performances. The qualifying criteria has yet to be published and so it is unknown how many (if any!) athletes will be taken but if I am to have a chance I need to be at least on a par with these types of performances. It is highly plausible that some other athletes fancying a pop at selection will also be giving the distance a go.
Lee Grantham is currently ranked no 1 in the World this year over 100km thanks to his run in East Yorkshire in May. I am so pleased (and a little bit jealous) of him for this fantastic achievement. Running that sort of time in a World Championships would get you very close to the top of the podium in most years.
Option 2 - Berlin Marathon
Given the break and starting from scratch again, this is probably my preferred option and it is also tempting in that it will allow me the opportunity to have one big go at the sub 2:20 before properly moving on to concentrate fully on ultras. 12 weeks is also far away enough to get in very good marathon shape.
Option 3 - Yorkshire Marathon
This is where I had my breakthrough race in 2014 and knocked about 6 minutes off my previous PB having plateaued for a bit so it is very tempting to go back and see if I could get close to 2:20. It isn't quite as fast as Berlin due to some undulations and the depth obviously isn't as strong but I know the course and area well and it would also be nice for my family to come and watch. Of course if I did do this as my target marathon, I could probably afford to run Winschoten 100k as well as they are four weeks apart.
Writing this down has been quite carthartic as I think I am coming to the conclusion that Option 3 may be the best solution. It will give me the opportunity to try and get the standard for the World Champs as well as a reasonable chance of a marathon PB at York providing I recover sufficiently. I could then do Gdansk and Berlin as training runs. I would be grateful for any thoughts that any readers may have so please do comment.
One thing that I have been toying with of recent months is whether to really give this plant-based diet a proper crack or not. I have I admit had many lapses back into meat and dairy and I always end up feeling the same - CRAP! I am becoming more and more convinced by the evidence to suggest that a plant-based diet is by far and away the best for one's health. But bigger than that the environmental impacts of animal agriculture are far more shocking than I ever realised (I highly recommend watching the film Cowspiracy - it will shock you and not in a gruesome way). Eating a plant-based diet is by far and away the single most important thing you can do to help save the planet. Aside from that I have also been reading about Carnism and how eating meat has become the norm but when you break it down to basics, it is quite ridiculous. Why for example is it perfectly acceptable to eat a pig but not a Labrador? If you have a spare 20 minutes, watch this YouTube video by Dr Melanie Joy. Just like Cowspiracy, it's incredibly enlightening.
So, I have decided that I am going to be following a completely plant based diet from this day forward. This is simply not up for debate. As many of you will know, I can be rather obsessive about things and for me it seems to be either 'all or nothing'. I will update on how things are going in a Bridget Jones stylee. I may even post some food pics!
Current stats
Weight 150lbs
Body Fat 13.7% (20.7lbs)
Lean Body Mass 81.85% (122.85lbs)
Water 60.4% (90.7lbs)
It may be silly to target a specific race weight but I know if I can get to 140lbs or just under I tend to be running at my best at that sort of weight so I have a while to lose about 10lbs. I suspect the first five or six pounds will drop off fairly quickly, the rest will be a little more tricky! I have put some target stats below, based on what I was carb-depleted pre-Toronto last year.
Target Stats
Weight 137lbs
Body Fat 8.6% (11.78lbs)
Lean Body Mass 86.86% (119lbs)
Body Water 67.8% (92.89lbs)
Option 1 - Winschoten 100k
The standard for next year's World Championships is likely to be sub 6:55 and I feel I have this in me. As readers will know I ran my first ultra at this year's British Championships but was unsuccessful in completing the distance. I got to 85k before I called it a day. I learnt some valuable lessons and if I can rectify the mistakes I would hope to get the required time to represent GB at next year's World Championships. There is no doubt that I will have my work cut out. Firstly the standard in GB ultra running right now is pretty phenomenal. Lee Grantham ran a genuinely world class 6:42 at the British Championships and Steve Way ran a staggering debut 5:48 at the 87k Comrades Up run this year, finishing in a brilliant 9th place.
These two guys have to be first on the selection list for next year's Championships given their performances. The qualifying criteria has yet to be published and so it is unknown how many (if any!) athletes will be taken but if I am to have a chance I need to be at least on a par with these types of performances. It is highly plausible that some other athletes fancying a pop at selection will also be giving the distance a go.
Lee Grantham is currently ranked no 1 in the World this year over 100km thanks to his run in East Yorkshire in May. I am so pleased (and a little bit jealous) of him for this fantastic achievement. Running that sort of time in a World Championships would get you very close to the top of the podium in most years.
Option 2 - Berlin Marathon
Given the break and starting from scratch again, this is probably my preferred option and it is also tempting in that it will allow me the opportunity to have one big go at the sub 2:20 before properly moving on to concentrate fully on ultras. 12 weeks is also far away enough to get in very good marathon shape.
Option 3 - Yorkshire Marathon
This is where I had my breakthrough race in 2014 and knocked about 6 minutes off my previous PB having plateaued for a bit so it is very tempting to go back and see if I could get close to 2:20. It isn't quite as fast as Berlin due to some undulations and the depth obviously isn't as strong but I know the course and area well and it would also be nice for my family to come and watch. Of course if I did do this as my target marathon, I could probably afford to run Winschoten 100k as well as they are four weeks apart.
Writing this down has been quite carthartic as I think I am coming to the conclusion that Option 3 may be the best solution. It will give me the opportunity to try and get the standard for the World Champs as well as a reasonable chance of a marathon PB at York providing I recover sufficiently. I could then do Gdansk and Berlin as training runs. I would be grateful for any thoughts that any readers may have so please do comment.
One thing that I have been toying with of recent months is whether to really give this plant-based diet a proper crack or not. I have I admit had many lapses back into meat and dairy and I always end up feeling the same - CRAP! I am becoming more and more convinced by the evidence to suggest that a plant-based diet is by far and away the best for one's health. But bigger than that the environmental impacts of animal agriculture are far more shocking than I ever realised (I highly recommend watching the film Cowspiracy - it will shock you and not in a gruesome way). Eating a plant-based diet is by far and away the single most important thing you can do to help save the planet. Aside from that I have also been reading about Carnism and how eating meat has become the norm but when you break it down to basics, it is quite ridiculous. Why for example is it perfectly acceptable to eat a pig but not a Labrador? If you have a spare 20 minutes, watch this YouTube video by Dr Melanie Joy. Just like Cowspiracy, it's incredibly enlightening.
Current stats
Weight 150lbs
Body Fat 13.7% (20.7lbs)
Lean Body Mass 81.85% (122.85lbs)
Water 60.4% (90.7lbs)
It may be silly to target a specific race weight but I know if I can get to 140lbs or just under I tend to be running at my best at that sort of weight so I have a while to lose about 10lbs. I suspect the first five or six pounds will drop off fairly quickly, the rest will be a little more tricky! I have put some target stats below, based on what I was carb-depleted pre-Toronto last year.
Target Stats
Weight 137lbs
Body Fat 8.6% (11.78lbs)
Lean Body Mass 86.86% (119lbs)
Body Water 67.8% (92.89lbs)
Friday 26 May 2017
British National 100k Championships - Race Week & Report
M 8 miles (6:17mm)
T 7 miles (7:34mm)
W 7 miles inc. 2X1mile (6:11mm)
T 6 miles (7:38mm)
F 5 miles (6:19mm)
S 3.5 miles (6:33mm)
S National 100km Champs.
Total 90 miles (6:43mm)
Total Training Time 10hrs 05 mins
Race week arrived with me not really too sure about how things were. I ran a woeful 5,000m at the Yorkshire Champs so wasn't expecting much but knew that a proper taper should at least leave the legs feeling nice and fresh. And that it did I did a little session of 2X1mile on Wednesday whilst carb depleted and ran them as hard as I could. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the efforts come in at 5:01 and 4:58. Pretty much Mile PB territory for me!
Over the past few weeks I had been a little concerned that my 'aerobic efficiency' hadn't been at the levels I have enjoyed in the past when getting close to a marathon. I suspect the virus pre-London had had some impact on this as I had been trying to peak for that race and then things were a bit out of kilter. Despite this I had put some decent miles in so knew that I was prepared and had the miles in the legs to run ok even if it wouldn't be my best. As it was my first attempt at a 100k it was also very unknown what would happen!
As it was the National Championships I was very keen to do well and so perhaps somewhat naively made my goal to win the race and get the qualifying time (6hrs 55mins) for the World Championships next year. I had somewhat arbitrarily decided that for me to do this I would need to run around 6hours 40mins which is exactly 4 minutes per km or 6:25 per mile. There were other top athletes, such as Lee Grantham (2:21:43 marathon PB) and Ant Clark, amongst others in the race who had experience at these sorts of distances in the past. I was a complete rookie so everything that goes with pacing, fuelling and hydration was going to be a bit of a learning curve. That said, the target to run around 6:40 I thought should be enough to hit my A-Goal. The secondary goal of the race was to learn something from it.
I can confirm that I didn't achieve Goal A but I certainly achieved Goal B!
The conditions seemed like they were going to be reasonably kind however where the race was held is a very exposed part of the country so any breath of wind and we would feel it. There was also no shade whatsoever and it was a very sunny day and really quite warm, although not roasting.
I set off very conservatively in the first 5k as I hadn't done a warm up. Do you need one when running 62 miles?!?! I found myself in third place as Lee Grantham and Tom Evans had put in a 15 second lead. I then decided to bridge the gap over the next 5k which I did. I was enjoying running in a group ticking off the miles very nicely and everything feeling ok. My nutrition plan was pretty simple really. Eat a gel or a bar every 20 minutes and around 150mls of water at each aid station which would be every 5k. I would also pick up a Pitta with Peanut Butter after each 25k lap which I thought would take care of my salt requirements. Unfortunately at the aid stations it was difficult to decipher where the water was as most athletes had arranged to have their own drinks bottles put out so it wasn't until 15k that I got my first proper drink of water. I wasn't concerned at this point as the pace still felt very much like a jog.
After the first lap I felt top drawer and got a nice cheer from my girls. Around 30k I made a move! And was quickly building up a lead over Lee & Tom. My legs felt great but I was conscious that my heart rate was higher than it probably should have been. I got to 50k and picked up my PB Pitta and restocked my fuelling belt. Unfortunately this time the PB pitta was a bit of a struggle and I was having difficulty chewing it down so probably only ate half of it before discarding it for some lucky pigeon. There had been houmous wraps on offer at the main aid station which on reflection would probably have been easier to get down.
I still felt great and pushed on to 60k. by now my lead had grown to around two and a half minutes on Lee in 2nd place and 10 minutes on Ant in 3rd. I was confident that I could maintain things.
However things were about to go wrong! My watch beeped and I reached for a bar but I just couldn't eat it. It was disgusting. My body just refused to eat it and I had to spit it out. I knew from here I would likely be in trouble as I needed the fuel to get through the distance. But I ploughed on regardless. By 75k and completion of the third lap it was 'only' one more lap to go. Fair enough it was another 15.5 miles but I thought I should be able to muster through. Shortly after completing this lap Lee came past me very strongly and I gave him words of encouragement as he looked certain to get the qualifying time and the win. It was around 83kms that I unfortunately came to a standstill wobbly, woozy and a little incoherent. I then walked/jogged to the 85km point where I officially retired from the race. The marshals at the aid station were very helpful and tried to get me to eat and get me on my way again. But my decision had been made. I am sure had I taken a rest and refuelled I could have got the finish but by then mentally I had disengaged from the race as I would likely come in with a c8hrs finish time which would not have achieved my A-Goal and would likely have really done some damage to myself physically and mentally. This way a DNF felt justified as I had certainly learnt a lot from the experience and there were always other races to get it right. So I ran 85km at an average pace of 6:42 per mile, which considering I walked the last mile of that is pretty decent. It was also the furthest I have ever run by some 12 miles.
I don't have any regrets about how I approached the race, nor with the DNF. Of course I wish things had turned out differently but I do feel I learnt a lot and was pleased I 'gave it a go'. It has given me more insight into what Heart Rate & effort I think should be sustainable for me for 100k and also the importance of hydration in combination with the fuelling. My feeling is that my decision to stick with plain water was probably my main downfall as my body was becoming slightly hyponatraemic (sodium balance was out) which resulted in a reduced blood plasma volume meaning my heart rate was increasing to unsustainable levels. On reflection I also suspect my fitness was also probably only worth 6hrs45- 6hrs50 on the day so running at 6hrs35 pace for the first half was a little ambitious to say the least.
Where now for my future? Well I feel that the ultra world is the direction my running is going. My engine is definitely my strength and I cant wait to have another crack at the 100k distance to try and get that World Champs qualifying time! My next 100k race will be in Winschoten, Holland in September. I also plan to put myself forward for selection at next year's Anglo-Celtic Plate. In the meantime, I have three weeks of reduced mileage and some faster stuff before the build up begins.
T 7 miles (7:34mm)
W 7 miles inc. 2X1mile (6:11mm)
T 6 miles (7:38mm)
F 5 miles (6:19mm)
S 3.5 miles (6:33mm)
S National 100km Champs.
Total 90 miles (6:43mm)
Total Training Time 10hrs 05 mins
Race week arrived with me not really too sure about how things were. I ran a woeful 5,000m at the Yorkshire Champs so wasn't expecting much but knew that a proper taper should at least leave the legs feeling nice and fresh. And that it did I did a little session of 2X1mile on Wednesday whilst carb depleted and ran them as hard as I could. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the efforts come in at 5:01 and 4:58. Pretty much Mile PB territory for me!
Over the past few weeks I had been a little concerned that my 'aerobic efficiency' hadn't been at the levels I have enjoyed in the past when getting close to a marathon. I suspect the virus pre-London had had some impact on this as I had been trying to peak for that race and then things were a bit out of kilter. Despite this I had put some decent miles in so knew that I was prepared and had the miles in the legs to run ok even if it wouldn't be my best. As it was my first attempt at a 100k it was also very unknown what would happen!
As it was the National Championships I was very keen to do well and so perhaps somewhat naively made my goal to win the race and get the qualifying time (6hrs 55mins) for the World Championships next year. I had somewhat arbitrarily decided that for me to do this I would need to run around 6hours 40mins which is exactly 4 minutes per km or 6:25 per mile. There were other top athletes, such as Lee Grantham (2:21:43 marathon PB) and Ant Clark, amongst others in the race who had experience at these sorts of distances in the past. I was a complete rookie so everything that goes with pacing, fuelling and hydration was going to be a bit of a learning curve. That said, the target to run around 6:40 I thought should be enough to hit my A-Goal. The secondary goal of the race was to learn something from it.
I can confirm that I didn't achieve Goal A but I certainly achieved Goal B!
The conditions seemed like they were going to be reasonably kind however where the race was held is a very exposed part of the country so any breath of wind and we would feel it. There was also no shade whatsoever and it was a very sunny day and really quite warm, although not roasting.
After the first lap I felt top drawer and got a nice cheer from my girls. Around 30k I made a move! And was quickly building up a lead over Lee & Tom. My legs felt great but I was conscious that my heart rate was higher than it probably should have been. I got to 50k and picked up my PB Pitta and restocked my fuelling belt. Unfortunately this time the PB pitta was a bit of a struggle and I was having difficulty chewing it down so probably only ate half of it before discarding it for some lucky pigeon. There had been houmous wraps on offer at the main aid station which on reflection would probably have been easier to get down.
I still felt great and pushed on to 60k. by now my lead had grown to around two and a half minutes on Lee in 2nd place and 10 minutes on Ant in 3rd. I was confident that I could maintain things.
Leading and feeling strong but things about to go wrong!
However things were about to go wrong! My watch beeped and I reached for a bar but I just couldn't eat it. It was disgusting. My body just refused to eat it and I had to spit it out. I knew from here I would likely be in trouble as I needed the fuel to get through the distance. But I ploughed on regardless. By 75k and completion of the third lap it was 'only' one more lap to go. Fair enough it was another 15.5 miles but I thought I should be able to muster through. Shortly after completing this lap Lee came past me very strongly and I gave him words of encouragement as he looked certain to get the qualifying time and the win. It was around 83kms that I unfortunately came to a standstill wobbly, woozy and a little incoherent. I then walked/jogged to the 85km point where I officially retired from the race. The marshals at the aid station were very helpful and tried to get me to eat and get me on my way again. But my decision had been made. I am sure had I taken a rest and refuelled I could have got the finish but by then mentally I had disengaged from the race as I would likely come in with a c8hrs finish time which would not have achieved my A-Goal and would likely have really done some damage to myself physically and mentally. This way a DNF felt justified as I had certainly learnt a lot from the experience and there were always other races to get it right. So I ran 85km at an average pace of 6:42 per mile, which considering I walked the last mile of that is pretty decent. It was also the furthest I have ever run by some 12 miles.
I don't have any regrets about how I approached the race, nor with the DNF. Of course I wish things had turned out differently but I do feel I learnt a lot and was pleased I 'gave it a go'. It has given me more insight into what Heart Rate & effort I think should be sustainable for me for 100k and also the importance of hydration in combination with the fuelling. My feeling is that my decision to stick with plain water was probably my main downfall as my body was becoming slightly hyponatraemic (sodium balance was out) which resulted in a reduced blood plasma volume meaning my heart rate was increasing to unsustainable levels. On reflection I also suspect my fitness was also probably only worth 6hrs45- 6hrs50 on the day so running at 6hrs35 pace for the first half was a little ambitious to say the least.
Where now for my future? Well I feel that the ultra world is the direction my running is going. My engine is definitely my strength and I cant wait to have another crack at the 100k distance to try and get that World Champs qualifying time! My next 100k race will be in Winschoten, Holland in September. I also plan to put myself forward for selection at next year's Anglo-Celtic Plate. In the meantime, I have three weeks of reduced mileage and some faster stuff before the build up begins.
Monday 15 May 2017
British National 100k Championships - 24th April-14th May Training Log
W/C 24th April
M 20.5 miles (6:43mm)
T 6.5 miles (7:55mm), 7 miles (7:09mm)
W 16 miles (6:27mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:17mm), 10 miles (6:39mm)
F 11.5 miles (6:01mm), 6.5 miles (7:11mm)
S 8 miles (6:55)
S 40.5 miles (6:12mm)
Total 138 miles (6:33mm)
Total Training Time 15hrs 02mins
W/C 1st May
M 15 miles (7:04mm)
T 12 miles (5:57mm), 5 miles (7:49mm)
W 8 miles (7:19mm), 5 miles (7:44mm)
T 20 miles inc. 30mins, 4X5mins, 30mins (5:55mm)
F 8.5 miles (7:24mm), 5 miles (7:50mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:34mm)
S 22 miles (6:13mm)
Total 111 miles (6:40mm)
Total Training Time 12hrs 24mins
W/C 8th May
M 10.5 miles (7:36mm), 4 miles (7:26mm)
T 8 miles (6:46mm), 4 miles (7:15mm)
W 11.5 miles inc. 15X1min (5:21mm)
T 10 miles (6:42mm)
F 8 miles (7:59mm)
S 5 miles (6:34mm)
S 14 miles inc. Yorkshire 5,000m Championships (16:15!), 5 miles (6:46mm)
Total 80 miles (6:50mm)
Total Training Time 9 hrs 5 mins
This first week post-London was really critical in terms of the specificity for the ultra and I was keen to get in some big miles including my longest run ever. It went well with a 20 miler the day after London. There was still definitely some fatigue there but doing a 20 miler at a half decent pace on tired legs is good conditioning for what is to come on the 21st. The rest of the week went ok with some decent miles at not too shabby paces but it was all building to Sunday which was planned to be a 40 mile run. this would give me the opportunity to practice my fuelling as well as hopefully run a bit quicker than planned pace for the ultra. I split the session up into 4X9.5 miles (not your standard interval training!) just to break it up a bit. I did it on my usual tempo loop but changed direction after each rep. This confirmed what I already suspected in that my Garmin is quite optimistic in one direction and quite pessimistic in the other! The efforts were at 6:11, 6:02, 6:09 and 6:12 pace with the whole run averaging 6:12mm. It was a really useful exercise as it allowed me to gauge how much fuel I would need to take on in the race. I was running ok and started eating after 45 minutes then every half hour but only 150 kcals at a time. As I approached 30 miles I started to feel like I was close to 'bonking' so quickly ate a bit more and then felt better and finished the session quite well. That said I do think that the final rep pace was reflected by the lack of fuel and also perhaps that it was seven miles further than I had ever run before. It was such a satisfying run to get done though.
M 20.5 miles (6:43mm)
T 6.5 miles (7:55mm), 7 miles (7:09mm)
W 16 miles (6:27mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:17mm), 10 miles (6:39mm)
F 11.5 miles (6:01mm), 6.5 miles (7:11mm)
S 8 miles (6:55)
S 40.5 miles (6:12mm)
Total 138 miles (6:33mm)
Total Training Time 15hrs 02mins
W/C 1st May
M 15 miles (7:04mm)
T 12 miles (5:57mm), 5 miles (7:49mm)
W 8 miles (7:19mm), 5 miles (7:44mm)
T 20 miles inc. 30mins, 4X5mins, 30mins (5:55mm)
F 8.5 miles (7:24mm), 5 miles (7:50mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:34mm)
S 22 miles (6:13mm)
Total 111 miles (6:40mm)
Total Training Time 12hrs 24mins
W/C 8th May
M 10.5 miles (7:36mm), 4 miles (7:26mm)
T 8 miles (6:46mm), 4 miles (7:15mm)
W 11.5 miles inc. 15X1min (5:21mm)
T 10 miles (6:42mm)
F 8 miles (7:59mm)
S 5 miles (6:34mm)
S 14 miles inc. Yorkshire 5,000m Championships (16:15!), 5 miles (6:46mm)
Total 80 miles (6:50mm)
Total Training Time 9 hrs 5 mins
This first week post-London was really critical in terms of the specificity for the ultra and I was keen to get in some big miles including my longest run ever. It went well with a 20 miler the day after London. There was still definitely some fatigue there but doing a 20 miler at a half decent pace on tired legs is good conditioning for what is to come on the 21st. The rest of the week went ok with some decent miles at not too shabby paces but it was all building to Sunday which was planned to be a 40 mile run. this would give me the opportunity to practice my fuelling as well as hopefully run a bit quicker than planned pace for the ultra. I split the session up into 4X9.5 miles (not your standard interval training!) just to break it up a bit. I did it on my usual tempo loop but changed direction after each rep. This confirmed what I already suspected in that my Garmin is quite optimistic in one direction and quite pessimistic in the other! The efforts were at 6:11, 6:02, 6:09 and 6:12 pace with the whole run averaging 6:12mm. It was a really useful exercise as it allowed me to gauge how much fuel I would need to take on in the race. I was running ok and started eating after 45 minutes then every half hour but only 150 kcals at a time. As I approached 30 miles I started to feel like I was close to 'bonking' so quickly ate a bit more and then felt better and finished the session quite well. That said I do think that the final rep pace was reflected by the lack of fuel and also perhaps that it was seven miles further than I had ever run before. It was such a satisfying run to get done though.
The second week I was just keen to ensure that there weren't too many ill-effects from my 40 miler as well as continue to get some decent miles in and a hard session. Although I had planned to run a few more miles this week I was sensible in that I eased back a little as I was suffering from DOMs quite severely on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had left the session until Thursday as my legs really weren't up to much faster running before then. The session itself went ok, not particularly fast but it was blowing a gale and considering how my legs had felt 24 hours earlier I was quite chuffed with the paces of 5:31mm for the first 30 mins, c5:15mm avge for the 5 minute efforts and then 5:38mm for the final 30 minute stint.
Last week was the first week of taper which included one 'sharpening' session and the Yorkshire 5,000m. I did a sharpening session of 15X1minute on/off on the treadmill with the on efforts at 20kph and off at 16kph. This gave me confidence that I might be good to run a reasonable 5,000m but it seems the miles of recent weeks have left my legs very strong but not very fast! I struggled in with 16:15 in what was pretty much a full effort! There was one benefit from it though in that it allowed me to calibrate my Garmin Footpod so I should get much more accurate readings for pace on the treadmill going forward! It confirmed my suspicions that when I run on the TM I am not running at the pace my Garmin has been giving me. This means it would appear that my mileage wont have been quite as high as I have reported in recent weeks although it wont be too far away!
I thought it would be sensible to get a blood test this week, given the change to the plant-based diet just to ensure I am not deficient in anything. The results are below and typically for Vegans there may be a deficiency in B12 and Iron. But these seemed ok. My Haemoglobin and Haematocrit seem to be in a similar place to where they have been when I was eating meat too so hopefully this is a positive sign. I don't really understand much about blood tests to be frank but it looks very similar to previous results so I don't think I should be worried. I will be having a vegan hiatus for a few days while I deplete my carb stores and go back on the dairy for a bit before loading up from Thursday.
So one week to go and I'm very excited about my first ultra. I have some idea what I think I might be capable of and think I can get to 75k in pretty decent shape but what happens after that is a complete unknown. For anyone that wants to track, you can do so here. The race starts at 7:30am on Sunday and there should be splits every 5k. See you on the other side!
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 16 of 16
M 14 miles (6:19mm)
T 13 miles (6:32mm), 7 miles (6:34mm)
W 17 miles inc 3X4.5miles (6:05mm), 4 miles (7:31mm)
T 14 miles (6:37mm), 6 miles (7:14mm)
F 9 miles (6:42mm), 6 miles (7:35mm)
S 7.5 miles (7:10mm), 4 miles (7:46mm)
S 28.2 miles including London Marathon (2:34:33)
Total 131 miles (6:34mm)
Total Training Time 14hrs 20mins
This doesn't look like a standard taper week I am sure you will agree! For folks that read my last blog I decided to knock London on the head as a PB attempt and instead focus on my debut at the British 100k Championships on 21st May. Of course I would still run London as I was keen to fulfil my promise of trying to help raise funds for my colleague's son Charlie who needs surgery and physio for his disability. Thank you everyone that has donated and there is till time if you could spare a few pennies. I have been humbled by the generosity of folks that have donated, some of whom I have never even met! So thank you once again. If you are inclined to donate the link is here.
Running the London Marathon at a steady effort would also prove to be a good training run for the 100k.
I travelled down on the Saturday and made my way to the expo, which is a necessary evil! It is so busy on the Saturday and it takes a good three hours out of one's day to get over there, get sorted and get back, even if you do fly through there! There was something positive though and that's that I got to see many of my old club mates from Orpington Road Runners who do a sterling job of volunteering with number and chip collection as well as manning one of the baggage lorries on race day.
I stayed near King's Cross on my own and made my way across to Blackheath on Sunday. Once inside the Champs start it was great to see so many of my running friends from far and wide and catch up on what their plans were for the race ahead. I was so excited and for this once I wasn't nervous as I would be taking it relatively easy.
I started quite a bit further back than I normally do but was still over the line in a few seconds and was running a long with Rob Downs before he shot off into the distance. I was also with Mark Offord and Stuart Beaney for large parts of the first half. There was also the novel situation of running with a chap dresses as a carrot until the 9 mile point. I even tried to do Facebook live interview with him on the go! It was a guy called Andrew Lawrence who actually runs for Morpeth. I'm not sure his kit would have stood the test of UKA scrutiny to count for team prizes but he ran very quickly for a carrot.
The race wore on and I felt great, I was having an absolute ball, high fiving and getting cheers from the folks at the roadside, some of whom I knew and others that I didn't. London really is ace as you get to feel a bit like a Rock Star for a couple of hours. The race proved to be a very good training session and I completed in a slight negative split with 2:34 feeling on the whole very comfortable. It is still a long way though so the legs are always going to be a touch tired especially with 130 miles in the legs for the week.
London Marathon Splits
So following the race there was exactly four weeks until the 100k. That would give me couple of weeks of big miles before tapering down!
T 13 miles (6:32mm), 7 miles (6:34mm)
W 17 miles inc 3X4.5miles (6:05mm), 4 miles (7:31mm)
T 14 miles (6:37mm), 6 miles (7:14mm)
F 9 miles (6:42mm), 6 miles (7:35mm)
S 7.5 miles (7:10mm), 4 miles (7:46mm)
S 28.2 miles including London Marathon (2:34:33)
Total 131 miles (6:34mm)
Total Training Time 14hrs 20mins
This doesn't look like a standard taper week I am sure you will agree! For folks that read my last blog I decided to knock London on the head as a PB attempt and instead focus on my debut at the British 100k Championships on 21st May. Of course I would still run London as I was keen to fulfil my promise of trying to help raise funds for my colleague's son Charlie who needs surgery and physio for his disability. Thank you everyone that has donated and there is till time if you could spare a few pennies. I have been humbled by the generosity of folks that have donated, some of whom I have never even met! So thank you once again. If you are inclined to donate the link is here.
Running the London Marathon at a steady effort would also prove to be a good training run for the 100k.
I travelled down on the Saturday and made my way to the expo, which is a necessary evil! It is so busy on the Saturday and it takes a good three hours out of one's day to get over there, get sorted and get back, even if you do fly through there! There was something positive though and that's that I got to see many of my old club mates from Orpington Road Runners who do a sterling job of volunteering with number and chip collection as well as manning one of the baggage lorries on race day.
I stayed near King's Cross on my own and made my way across to Blackheath on Sunday. Once inside the Champs start it was great to see so many of my running friends from far and wide and catch up on what their plans were for the race ahead. I was so excited and for this once I wasn't nervous as I would be taking it relatively easy.
I started quite a bit further back than I normally do but was still over the line in a few seconds and was running a long with Rob Downs before he shot off into the distance. I was also with Mark Offord and Stuart Beaney for large parts of the first half. There was also the novel situation of running with a chap dresses as a carrot until the 9 mile point. I even tried to do Facebook live interview with him on the go! It was a guy called Andrew Lawrence who actually runs for Morpeth. I'm not sure his kit would have stood the test of UKA scrutiny to count for team prizes but he ran very quickly for a carrot.
The race wore on and I felt great, I was having an absolute ball, high fiving and getting cheers from the folks at the roadside, some of whom I knew and others that I didn't. London really is ace as you get to feel a bit like a Rock Star for a couple of hours. The race proved to be a very good training session and I completed in a slight negative split with 2:34 feeling on the whole very comfortable. It is still a long way though so the legs are always going to be a touch tired especially with 130 miles in the legs for the week.
London Marathon Splits
So following the race there was exactly four weeks until the 100k. That would give me couple of weeks of big miles before tapering down!
Wednesday 12 April 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 14 of 16
M 10 miles HA (6:21mm), 7 miles inc. strides (7:12mm)
T 9 miles HA (6:43mm), 6 miles inc. strides & drills (7:14mm)
W 22 miles (6:01mm), 6 miles (6:37mm)
T 7.5 miles HA (6:49mm), 6 miles (6:37mm)
F 5 miles (7:13mm)
S 11 miles inc Long Leg at 12-stage Road Relays
S Ill.
Total 90 miles (6:37mm)
Core & Drills 25 mins
Total Training Time 10hrs 23mins
Aerobic efficiency 937 Vs 913 beats per mile
Oh crap! I'm ill with a horrid virus. It has taken me a few days to write this as I was just so grumpy about things. I had a decent last long run last Wednesday over a hilly route but then I started to feel a bit off. I was super anxious about the national relays and while I'm not much use at the shorter stuff anyway, I felt even more pressure on myself than ever before. I know now why that was the case as I woke up on Sunday with next to no energy, bunged up and a splitting headache. Since then I have felt achey all over and haven't run a step. It may explain the bad run (28:46 on a long leg) when I had been expecting to run closer to 27 minutes given recent sessions but the run itself didn't feel too bad. I felt strong but just couldn't get the legs moving.
An interesting thing I noted during the week was that my aerobic efficiency had gone down quite a lot. This should have been a tell-tale sign that I was coming down with something but I chose to ignore it. Runner's denial is a powerful thing.
So it has left me with a quandary over the past few days and one I have finally made a decision on. London was always the big focus for Spring and I felt like I was getting into sub 2:20 shape, my confidence was high but like anything to do with marathons you have to have everything go your way, especially in the last few weeks and on race day to come out with what you want. As much support from friends I have had over recent days, I have unfortunately lost the faith now that I can PB. A weak mind is not what one needs when looking to hurt themselves for 26.2 miles. Of course some may argue that it is too soon to make a call on London and that a few days off wont affect anything too much and that is a valid point but I do know my body best and my mind has now irreversibly shifted to loftier goals.
Of course I will run London. I am Running for Charlie but from a personal point of view it is no longer about striving for that arbitrary time that I have had myself so worked up about for the past few months. That will have to wait until the Autumn when I have another crack at Berlin.
What now? Well this mishap has allowed me to look at what else I can do and as I was already entered for the English 50k Championships at the end of May that was a possibility but I had been dabbling with the thought of doing the 100k instead which doubles as the GB Championships. I have never run that far and it will be somewhere around seven hours of running but I am convinced the distance will suit me! I don't have a top gear but I have a decent engine and I feel I can endure. So now my goal has shifted to challenge for a podium spot at the GB Championships at the 100k. I will train through London, assuming I am back running in the next few days but look to get some decent miles in before my first Ultra on 21st May.
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. Please donate if you can spare a few pounds.
Charlie's Footsteps
T 9 miles HA (6:43mm), 6 miles inc. strides & drills (7:14mm)
W 22 miles (6:01mm), 6 miles (6:37mm)
T 7.5 miles HA (6:49mm), 6 miles (6:37mm)
F 5 miles (7:13mm)
S 11 miles inc Long Leg at 12-stage Road Relays
S Ill.
Total 90 miles (6:37mm)
Core & Drills 25 mins
Total Training Time 10hrs 23mins
Aerobic efficiency 937 Vs 913 beats per mile
Oh crap! I'm ill with a horrid virus. It has taken me a few days to write this as I was just so grumpy about things. I had a decent last long run last Wednesday over a hilly route but then I started to feel a bit off. I was super anxious about the national relays and while I'm not much use at the shorter stuff anyway, I felt even more pressure on myself than ever before. I know now why that was the case as I woke up on Sunday with next to no energy, bunged up and a splitting headache. Since then I have felt achey all over and haven't run a step. It may explain the bad run (28:46 on a long leg) when I had been expecting to run closer to 27 minutes given recent sessions but the run itself didn't feel too bad. I felt strong but just couldn't get the legs moving.
Final bit at the Relays. Photo Credit: Adrian Royle.
An interesting thing I noted during the week was that my aerobic efficiency had gone down quite a lot. This should have been a tell-tale sign that I was coming down with something but I chose to ignore it. Runner's denial is a powerful thing.
So it has left me with a quandary over the past few days and one I have finally made a decision on. London was always the big focus for Spring and I felt like I was getting into sub 2:20 shape, my confidence was high but like anything to do with marathons you have to have everything go your way, especially in the last few weeks and on race day to come out with what you want. As much support from friends I have had over recent days, I have unfortunately lost the faith now that I can PB. A weak mind is not what one needs when looking to hurt themselves for 26.2 miles. Of course some may argue that it is too soon to make a call on London and that a few days off wont affect anything too much and that is a valid point but I do know my body best and my mind has now irreversibly shifted to loftier goals.
Of course I will run London. I am Running for Charlie but from a personal point of view it is no longer about striving for that arbitrary time that I have had myself so worked up about for the past few months. That will have to wait until the Autumn when I have another crack at Berlin.
What now? Well this mishap has allowed me to look at what else I can do and as I was already entered for the English 50k Championships at the end of May that was a possibility but I had been dabbling with the thought of doing the 100k instead which doubles as the GB Championships. I have never run that far and it will be somewhere around seven hours of running but I am convinced the distance will suit me! I don't have a top gear but I have a decent engine and I feel I can endure. So now my goal has shifted to challenge for a podium spot at the GB Championships at the 100k. I will train through London, assuming I am back running in the next few days but look to get some decent miles in before my first Ultra on 21st May.
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. Please donate if you can spare a few pounds.
Charlie's Footsteps
Sunday 2 April 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 13 of 16
M 13 miles HA (6:04mm), 6 miles inc. strides (7:07mm)
T 9 miles HA (6:48mm)
W Canova Special Block Day; Session 1 - 16.5 miles (5:49mm) Session 2 - 11 miles (5:53mm)
T 7 miles (7:54mm)
F 11.5 miles HA (6:05mm), 5 miles (7:34mm)
S 9 miles (6:40mm)
S 27.5 miles inc a cheeky steady marathon (5:55mm)
Total 116 miles (6:20mm)
Core & Drills 30 mins
Total Training Time 12 hrs 42 mins Vs 15hrs 25mins
Aerobic efficiency 913 Vs 940 beats per mile
Weight 139.34lbs Vs 139.97lbs
Body Fat 9.97% (13.90lbs) Vs 10.41% (14.58lbs)
Lean Body Mass 85.5% (119.14lbs) Vs 85.1% (119.11lbs)
Water 65.33% (91.03lbs) Vs 64.57% (90.37lbs)
Another big week this week, not so much in miles but in sessions. It was Canova Special Block Week! For any readers that followed my build up to Toronto, this essentially consists of one day where you run two hard sessions. It's one that makes you a little nervous as you know it's going to be so tough and makes you wish you just did this running lark to keep fit. Then it would have been easy to stick in a couple of five mile jogs instead! But know I can be quite stubborn as well as obsessive so I looked to repeat what I did last year.
This first run of the day was 5.5 miles at around 90% of MP which came in at 5:54mm, 4 mins jog then 8 miles at 98.5%MP which came in bang on at 5:27mm. This was comparable with what I did pre-Toronto and the HR was a little lower for the efforts. The second session of the day was 6X4:30 with 2 mins jog. The idea was to run these at around 5:07 pace but I managed to hit 5:00mm average for the efforts despite it being quite breezy. It was super tough but it was once again so pleasing to get done. Going into the second session you have no idea how you're going to get through it given you're already quite tired, and the legs a little dull, from the first session early in the morning.
The following days were tough and the legs were definitely feeling it, I also felt pretty wiped out so just ran what I felt necessary. I missed out on a couple of doubles but it's no biggie given this was my critical week of training and the last thing I would want is to pick up an injury from overreaching. I ensured I got as much rest as I could ahead of Sunday's long run. I planned to do a steady marathon which I did after a mile's warm up and covered the distance in 2:35:18 which was 3 seconds slower than what I did the same run pre-Berlin 2015 but my HR averaged 5 beats per minute lower. This hopefully implies I have developed my engine some more. I know I was in 2:20 shape at Berlin if it hadn't been for the stitch, so I am coming to the boil quite nicely now. Don't get me wrong, it was getting hard towards the end and I was looking forward to finishing, but I never felt like I was getting close to the red line. I did this run through the day for a change and given it was a lovely spring day there were lots of people out and about. I got the usual heckle but the highlight was about 14 miles in when a car of young guys pulled up alongside and followed me for about half a mile with the theme music from Rocky blaring out of the windows. It gave me a lift when I was starting to get a bit bored and I couldn't stop smiling after that! Running is ace!
The weight has come down a little as well as body fat again which is nice to see as I am being rewarded with sensible diet choices of plant based stuff. None of this low carb high fat nonsense I see folks posting about!
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
T 9 miles HA (6:48mm)
W Canova Special Block Day; Session 1 - 16.5 miles (5:49mm) Session 2 - 11 miles (5:53mm)
T 7 miles (7:54mm)
F 11.5 miles HA (6:05mm), 5 miles (7:34mm)
S 9 miles (6:40mm)
S 27.5 miles inc a cheeky steady marathon (5:55mm)
Total 116 miles (6:20mm)
Core & Drills 30 mins
Total Training Time 12 hrs 42 mins Vs 15hrs 25mins
Aerobic efficiency 913 Vs 940 beats per mile
Weight 139.34lbs Vs 139.97lbs
Body Fat 9.97% (13.90lbs) Vs 10.41% (14.58lbs)
Lean Body Mass 85.5% (119.14lbs) Vs 85.1% (119.11lbs)
Water 65.33% (91.03lbs) Vs 64.57% (90.37lbs)
Another big week this week, not so much in miles but in sessions. It was Canova Special Block Week! For any readers that followed my build up to Toronto, this essentially consists of one day where you run two hard sessions. It's one that makes you a little nervous as you know it's going to be so tough and makes you wish you just did this running lark to keep fit. Then it would have been easy to stick in a couple of five mile jogs instead! But know I can be quite stubborn as well as obsessive so I looked to repeat what I did last year.
This first run of the day was 5.5 miles at around 90% of MP which came in at 5:54mm, 4 mins jog then 8 miles at 98.5%MP which came in bang on at 5:27mm. This was comparable with what I did pre-Toronto and the HR was a little lower for the efforts. The second session of the day was 6X4:30 with 2 mins jog. The idea was to run these at around 5:07 pace but I managed to hit 5:00mm average for the efforts despite it being quite breezy. It was super tough but it was once again so pleasing to get done. Going into the second session you have no idea how you're going to get through it given you're already quite tired, and the legs a little dull, from the first session early in the morning.
The following days were tough and the legs were definitely feeling it, I also felt pretty wiped out so just ran what I felt necessary. I missed out on a couple of doubles but it's no biggie given this was my critical week of training and the last thing I would want is to pick up an injury from overreaching. I ensured I got as much rest as I could ahead of Sunday's long run. I planned to do a steady marathon which I did after a mile's warm up and covered the distance in 2:35:18 which was 3 seconds slower than what I did the same run pre-Berlin 2015 but my HR averaged 5 beats per minute lower. This hopefully implies I have developed my engine some more. I know I was in 2:20 shape at Berlin if it hadn't been for the stitch, so I am coming to the boil quite nicely now. Don't get me wrong, it was getting hard towards the end and I was looking forward to finishing, but I never felt like I was getting close to the red line. I did this run through the day for a change and given it was a lovely spring day there were lots of people out and about. I got the usual heckle but the highlight was about 14 miles in when a car of young guys pulled up alongside and followed me for about half a mile with the theme music from Rocky blaring out of the windows. It gave me a lift when I was starting to get a bit bored and I couldn't stop smiling after that! Running is ace!
The weight has come down a little as well as body fat again which is nice to see as I am being rewarded with sensible diet choices of plant based stuff. None of this low carb high fat nonsense I see folks posting about!
On finishing my long run on Sunday it was nice to check my Garmin's race predictor. See below! It thinks I'm ready, even if it has a tendency to be a tad optimistic!
So nearly there now, and nothing will be as hard as I've run this week so I hope I can say the hay is in the barn.
Charlie's Footsteps
Saturday 25 March 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 12 of 16.
M 5 miles (6:57mm), 11 miles HA (6:15mm)
T 12 miles (6:20mm), 6 miles inc. strides & drills (7:08mm)
W 5miles (7:34mm), 15 miles inc. 8X1mile (1/2 mile float) (5:52mm)
T 12.5 miles HA (6:23mm), 6 miles inc. strides (7:13mm)
F 10.5 miles HA (6:13mm), 5 miles inc. strides & drills (7:06mm)
S 33 miles (6:22mm)
S 14 miles (6:35mm)
Total 136 miles (6:29mm)
Core & Drills 45 mins
Total Training Time 15hrs 25mins Vs 11 hrs 35 mins
Aerobic efficiency 940 Vs 966 beats per mile
Weight 139.97lbs Vs 142.34 lbs
Body Fat 10.41% (14.58ls) Vs 11.11% (15.82lbs)
Lean Body Mass 85.1% (119.11lbs) Vs 84.44% (120.2lbs)
Water 64.57% (90.37lbs) Vs 63.66% (90.61lbs)
I keep telling myself that last week's race was a blip. After this week I am now convinced more than ever that it, sort of, was. Thankfully! Ordinarily after a race I struggle to do anything faster at all the following week, but my running has been quicker and felt much better this week. I also had a bit of an epiphany, not in the sense that the Lord came and spoke to me. I am sure He/She has more important things to worry about. I realised that I hadn't been training hard enough! Of course last week and the prior week I am allowed to be a bit gentle on myself as I was under the weather and recovering from a bug but I noticed my average pace for general runs was not as quick as I have run them in the past. Yes they were easier and I am sure I was getting some benefit from them, but I was wasting an opportunity to build my engine in a relatively low stress way. I am pleased I realised this now as it has given me three weeks to get in serious shape. The average pace of my running across the week has improved from 6:43mm to 6:29mm.I'm not saying that training wasn't going well, it was ok but I was drifting and I don't think I truly committed until this week when I realised I had to really pull my finger out. Thankfully I am fit, so now it's just about adding a bit of icing to the cake I've been baking.
And so to Wednesday's session of 8X1mile with 1/2 mile float which would have been a big no-no generally after a race as I simply wouldn't have been in a state to run that hard. But it went brilliantly well and I felt strong throughout, with the mile splits going 5:27, 5:21, 5:19, 5:16, 5:16, 5:15, 5:13, 5:11 and the 'recoveries' at about 6:30pace. When I did this session prior to Toronto, the average pace of the miles was 5:07 vs 5:16 this time but my recoveries were slightly quicker this time and although I was chuffed with the session last time out ,this one was definitely more controlled with my heart rate not even getting up to marathon heart rate in any of the efforts. It would be great if 5:16s ended up being marathon pace as it would get me in somewhere around 2:18 which would be comfortably under the IAAF World Champs qualifying time. One can dream!!!
Another big factor this week is that the unwanted body fat has finally started to drop off quite substantially and this always gets me feeling better in my running and could be down to the faster pace of my running but also more likely to do with the plant based diet I am on. I'm not missing meat, or dairy, one bit! And I feel much better in myself, my energy levels are higher than ever and it's great getting to make new things in the kitchen. My wife, Hania also seems pretty pleased!
So to Saturday's long run which was two weeks overdue! I missed it two weeks ago because of my cold but I was keen to run further than I ever have done before and so I set off to do 33 miles. Three 11 mile loops on an undulating course. The first ticked by quite nicely and I felt good with the legs ticking along nicely. The second lap was better and I felt very strong and was running very nicely. It was only around halfway through the third lap that I started to feel quite tired and hungry. I was a touch thirsty by this point too but as it was pretty cold I wasn't sweating a great deal. My watch clocked 33 miles at 3:29:59 which I had thought might be doable without ruining myself. I only lost 4.5lbs in 3 and a half hours of running which was an interesting stat for me to reflect on!
T 12 miles (6:20mm), 6 miles inc. strides & drills (7:08mm)
W 5miles (7:34mm), 15 miles inc. 8X1mile (1/2 mile float) (5:52mm)
T 12.5 miles HA (6:23mm), 6 miles inc. strides (7:13mm)
F 10.5 miles HA (6:13mm), 5 miles inc. strides & drills (7:06mm)
S 33 miles (6:22mm)
S 14 miles (6:35mm)
Total 136 miles (6:29mm)
Core & Drills 45 mins
Total Training Time 15hrs 25mins Vs 11 hrs 35 mins
Aerobic efficiency 940 Vs 966 beats per mile
Weight 139.97lbs Vs 142.34 lbs
Body Fat 10.41% (14.58ls) Vs 11.11% (15.82lbs)
Lean Body Mass 85.1% (119.11lbs) Vs 84.44% (120.2lbs)
Water 64.57% (90.37lbs) Vs 63.66% (90.61lbs)
I keep telling myself that last week's race was a blip. After this week I am now convinced more than ever that it, sort of, was. Thankfully! Ordinarily after a race I struggle to do anything faster at all the following week, but my running has been quicker and felt much better this week. I also had a bit of an epiphany, not in the sense that the Lord came and spoke to me. I am sure He/She has more important things to worry about. I realised that I hadn't been training hard enough! Of course last week and the prior week I am allowed to be a bit gentle on myself as I was under the weather and recovering from a bug but I noticed my average pace for general runs was not as quick as I have run them in the past. Yes they were easier and I am sure I was getting some benefit from them, but I was wasting an opportunity to build my engine in a relatively low stress way. I am pleased I realised this now as it has given me three weeks to get in serious shape. The average pace of my running across the week has improved from 6:43mm to 6:29mm.I'm not saying that training wasn't going well, it was ok but I was drifting and I don't think I truly committed until this week when I realised I had to really pull my finger out. Thankfully I am fit, so now it's just about adding a bit of icing to the cake I've been baking.
And so to Wednesday's session of 8X1mile with 1/2 mile float which would have been a big no-no generally after a race as I simply wouldn't have been in a state to run that hard. But it went brilliantly well and I felt strong throughout, with the mile splits going 5:27, 5:21, 5:19, 5:16, 5:16, 5:15, 5:13, 5:11 and the 'recoveries' at about 6:30pace. When I did this session prior to Toronto, the average pace of the miles was 5:07 vs 5:16 this time but my recoveries were slightly quicker this time and although I was chuffed with the session last time out ,this one was definitely more controlled with my heart rate not even getting up to marathon heart rate in any of the efforts. It would be great if 5:16s ended up being marathon pace as it would get me in somewhere around 2:18 which would be comfortably under the IAAF World Champs qualifying time. One can dream!!!
Another big factor this week is that the unwanted body fat has finally started to drop off quite substantially and this always gets me feeling better in my running and could be down to the faster pace of my running but also more likely to do with the plant based diet I am on. I'm not missing meat, or dairy, one bit! And I feel much better in myself, my energy levels are higher than ever and it's great getting to make new things in the kitchen. My wife, Hania also seems pretty pleased!
Roasted Sweet Potato, Spicy Vegan Lecho and Spinach, Beetroot, Tomato, Cucumber, Avocado and mixed seed Salad. #plantbased
So to Saturday's long run which was two weeks overdue! I missed it two weeks ago because of my cold but I was keen to run further than I ever have done before and so I set off to do 33 miles. Three 11 mile loops on an undulating course. The first ticked by quite nicely and I felt good with the legs ticking along nicely. The second lap was better and I felt very strong and was running very nicely. It was only around halfway through the third lap that I started to feel quite tired and hungry. I was a touch thirsty by this point too but as it was pretty cold I wasn't sweating a great deal. My watch clocked 33 miles at 3:29:59 which I had thought might be doable without ruining myself. I only lost 4.5lbs in 3 and a half hours of running which was an interesting stat for me to reflect on!
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
Charlie's Footsteps
Monday 20 March 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 11 of 16
M 10.5 miles HA (6:40mm), 3.5 miles inc. strides (7:43mm)
T 15 miles inc 24mins, 18 mins, 12 mins, 6 mins (6:00mm)
W 7.5 miles HA (6:47mm), 5 miles (7:08mm)
T 5 miles (7:49mm), 10 miles (6:47mm)
F 10.5 miles HA (6:47mm), 5 miles inc. strides & drills (7:28mm)
S 5 miles (6:36mm), 3.5 miles (7:00mm)
S 20.5 miles including Thirsk 10 (6:24mm)
Total 101 miles (6:43mm)
Core & Drills 19 mins
Total Training Time 11 hrs 35 mins Vs 9 hrs 42 mins
Aerobic efficiency 966 Vs 949 beats per mile
Weight 142.34 lbs Vs 142.3lbs (avge over the week)
Body Fat 11.11% (15.82lbs) Vs 10.86% (15.45lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.44% (120.2lbs) Vs 84.71% (120.52lbs)
Water 63.66% (90.61lbs) Vs 64.06% (91.14 lbs)
A tentative start back this week after missing last weekend due to a cold. In fact most runs until Friday felt pretty bleurgh. My Heart Rate seemed to be behaving itself but the legs just felt like they didn't have much strength. I was still keen to do a session and on Tuesday I did a session of 24 mins, 28 mins, 23 min, 6 mins with the intention of speeding up throughout the session. As it turned out I clearly wasn't fully recovered as there was no 'top gear' and even getting close to marathon heart rate was impossible, so I kept it as high aerobic as I could without pushing myself over the line. The efforts came in at around 5:33mm avge so it was pretty slow and I know that it was sensible that I didn't try to go any quicker. In a way it reminded me of last year's Dewsbury 10k which was just after recovering form a cold. That day, I just really couldn't get to the level of effort I wanted without my legs saying 'no'!
So this week was a bit weird as I had been planning to taper down for the Thirsk 10 on Sunday but as I had missed last weekend's running thought it'd be sensible to just get the training back to sensible levels and train through the race. Of course I planned to give it a full effort if the cold had fully evaporated but I went in no longer thinking of a PB but just to have a solid outing!
There was a very strong wind the morning of the race with gust of over 40mph and it looked like this would be a headwind for the first half of the race so actually made me relax even more about the chance of a PB.
Off we went and I didn't feel too bad initially but it didn't take long before I felt like I couldn't really push to my max. I guess a combination of post-cold race syndrome and fatigue from marathon training meant it was going to be a struggle. I would go through spells of feeling great then 30 second slater would feel like I was coming to a standstill. I was running in a nice group until about 4 miles when I started to drop off the pack and from there just tried to keep going. I was happy that I managed to pick off one guy with around 2.5 miles to go but I was very conscious that John Hobbs of Valley striders was hunting me down so had to keep working to make sure I stayed in front. I managed it, just about! I crossed the line in seventh place in 54:16 and my initial feeling was one of disappointment as I had been hoping this would be my sharpener race for London and give me the confidence that sub 2:20 was on! Of course the pace I ran wasn't even what I hope to be able to run come April 23rd (5:18mm-5:20mm hoped for target) so I felt a little 'meh' about it. It didn't take long for me to come to my senses and realise that a) the conditions were pretty poor (maybe worth 45 seconds), b) I was fatigued from 100 miles in the week, c) I had just got over a bad cold and d) considering Tuesday's session where I couldn't run any quicker than 5:30mm, 5:26s was actually not a bad effort! I also feel like I wasn't quite at max and couldn't 'go to the well' as I have done in previous tune up races. Comparing this to the effort I put into running at the Vale of York Half last year, I should put it down as a tempo run really even though I genuinely don't think I could have gone much quicker on the day. It was nice to catch up with a few running buddies too, especially Andrew Challenger (cool name!) making his return to racing after 10 months and recording a solid time of 53 and bits. I met Andy at Berlin in 2015 and although we didn't run together that day enjoyed some(!) post-race beverages and shenanigans together.
Photo Credit: Karen Newton. Trying not to be hunted by John Hobbs
As I inferred last week when I'm ill I seem to put on weight rather than lose it so it was a bit of a relief that by the end of the week it had returned to where I was pretty much.
I now have three weeks of big training to put in to get in serious shape and condition before tapering off. I'm somewhat relieved that I don't have any races now until London as I can just focus on my training. I know come the big dance I will be ready to go.
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
Thursday 16 March 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 10 of 16
M 9 miles HA (6:37mm), 5 miles inc. strides & drills (7:33mm)
T 20 miles inc. 30 mins (3:00), 4X5mins(2:00), 30 mins (5:45mm), 6 miles (7:37mm)
W 9 miles HA (6:45mm), 6.5 miles (7:58mm)
T 11.5 miles (7:04mm), 6 miles (7:02mm)
F 7 miles HA (6:42mm)
S Rest (lurgy)
S Rest (still lurgied)
Total 81 miles (6:45mm)
Core & Drills 38 mins
Total Training Time 9 hrs 42 mins
Aerobic efficiency 949 beats per mile
Weight 142.3lbs (avge over the week)
Body Fat 10.86% (15.45lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.71% (120.52lbs)
Water 64.06% (91.14 lbs)
A bit of a frustrating week this week as I felt like I was starting to get nicely fit but then came down with a cold which meant the weekend off running. So my mileage wasn't anywhere near as high as I wanted and I didn't get a long run in. I guess it's that time of year though with the change of the season where colds are in big supply and avoiding one is very tricky. I suppose I can be grateful that it is not the week of London and would much rather have a cold now than then! Every cloud.
Apart from that I managed to get in a decent session on Tuesday morning. this is traditionally the big marathon session that I do a couple of weeks out from the target race so doing it this early would be an interesting experiment. I was not expecting the resultant paces that came out and although it wasn't as quick as pre-Toronto, it was almost certainly more controlled with the 30 minute efforts coming in at 5:25mm avge and the 5 minute efforts coming in at 5:09mm. It did demonstrate to me that I am quite fit though, especially this far out.
Weight seems to have stayed pretty stable despite dropping a bit of body fat. This seems to happen as an adaptation to the HA runs I do where my body seems to hold onto more water. Perhaps this is due to the increase in plasma volume that HA runs are supposed to induce?!?! I didn't however weigh myself over the weekend as I wasn't running so may well have put some weight back on as seems to be the case when I take some time off running. Most folks seem to lose weight when they're ill, but not me!
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
T 20 miles inc. 30 mins (3:00), 4X5mins(2:00), 30 mins (5:45mm), 6 miles (7:37mm)
W 9 miles HA (6:45mm), 6.5 miles (7:58mm)
T 11.5 miles (7:04mm), 6 miles (7:02mm)
F 7 miles HA (6:42mm)
S Rest (lurgy)
S Rest (still lurgied)
Total 81 miles (6:45mm)
Core & Drills 38 mins
Total Training Time 9 hrs 42 mins
Aerobic efficiency 949 beats per mile
Weight 142.3lbs (avge over the week)
Body Fat 10.86% (15.45lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.71% (120.52lbs)
Water 64.06% (91.14 lbs)
A bit of a frustrating week this week as I felt like I was starting to get nicely fit but then came down with a cold which meant the weekend off running. So my mileage wasn't anywhere near as high as I wanted and I didn't get a long run in. I guess it's that time of year though with the change of the season where colds are in big supply and avoiding one is very tricky. I suppose I can be grateful that it is not the week of London and would much rather have a cold now than then! Every cloud.
Apart from that I managed to get in a decent session on Tuesday morning. this is traditionally the big marathon session that I do a couple of weeks out from the target race so doing it this early would be an interesting experiment. I was not expecting the resultant paces that came out and although it wasn't as quick as pre-Toronto, it was almost certainly more controlled with the 30 minute efforts coming in at 5:25mm avge and the 5 minute efforts coming in at 5:09mm. It did demonstrate to me that I am quite fit though, especially this far out.
Weight seems to have stayed pretty stable despite dropping a bit of body fat. This seems to happen as an adaptation to the HA runs I do where my body seems to hold onto more water. Perhaps this is due to the increase in plasma volume that HA runs are supposed to induce?!?! I didn't however weigh myself over the weekend as I wasn't running so may well have put some weight back on as seems to be the case when I take some time off running. Most folks seem to lose weight when they're ill, but not me!
So far from ideal at this stage of the game, but it is now Thursday of week 11 and I was back running on Monday which was a relief although most runs have felt a bit bleurgh since then. I am supposed to be doing Thirsk 10 on Sunday as a tune up but yet to make a decision on whether I'll race.
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
Monday 6 March 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 9 of 16.
M 9 miles HA (7:32mm), 5 miles inc. strides & drills (7:45mm)
T 18 miles inc. 4X18mins (5:49mm), 5 miles (7:39mm)
W 8 miles HA (6:41mm)
T 12 miles (6:46mm), 6 miles inc 3X30s strides & drills (7:49mm)
F 9 miles HA (6:34mm), 5 miles inc. 6X15s strides (7:36mm)
S 30 miles (6:26mm)
S 12.5 miles (6:49mm)
Total 120 miles (6:45mm)
Core 42 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 14 mins
Aerobic efficiency 997 beats per mile
Weight 142.6lbs (avge over the week)
Body Fat 11.5% (16.40lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.11 (119.94lbs)
Water 63.1% (89.98 lbs)
For any regular reader, apologies for the elusiveness of my blog the last few weeks. I ran the Liversegde Half Marathon about three weeks ago and the following week's training was shelved as it took my legs ages to recover! I also thought it would be worth having an easy week before getting on with the marathon specific phase. Unfortunately it meant I would miss the National (and indeed the whole XC season for one reason or another!) but it was the right decision as I do think another hard effort may well have burnt me out and scuppered London.
I had planned to use Liversedge as part of my long run as a solid effort but in the end got drawn into a decent race. I was sat in fourth place at halfway with the leader out of sight and second and third about 60 metres up the road. At this point I would have been happy with 4th place as I was feeling quite fatigued from the week's training and the conditions were horrendous. I just wanted to go home and have a warm bath! All of a sudden I found myself catching Tristan Learoyd of New Marske to go into third place and before long I had caught and overtaken Adam Peers of Wakefield to go second. Ian Harding was currently in first place and out of sight. I don't think I'd seen him since the fourth mile. As we turned to make a mile long drag up hill I could finally got a clear sight of him and as I was buoyed by getting myself into second place, I set about trying to reel him in. I cautiously closed the gap and caught him at 11.5 miles and went straight past. It was then just one foot in front of the other to take the win. I ran a time of 71:30 which was incredibly pleasing as it is a very very testing course with c1000ft of elevation.
So I then basically had a week off, and got back into things two weeks ago feeling fat and unfit! I knew that the fitness wouldn't be tfar away though so just concentrated on getting some miles in. The first week I did 108miles and then last week I upped that slightly to 120 with a session of 4X18 minutes off 3:00 and along run of 30 miles.
The session went well averaging 5:28 pace for the efforts which was a little surprising given I'd not run that fast since the half marathon a couple of weeks before. It was hard but comfortable and to be doing that sort of run eight weeks out was very pleasing.
The 30 miler was a bit of an early start as I take my youngest to ballet on Saturday mornings and wanted to get it out of the way before the rest of the weekend. So the alarm went of at 3:45 and I was out the door by 4:20. The run went really well and I felt strong the whole way. I ran without fuel or water as I genuinely believe running like this helps get your body fat burning and is a key specific part of marathon training. I didn't carry any water, basically because I find it a bit of a pain and I had made sure I was well hydrated in the couple of days before the run. I took in a hilly course and covered the 30 miles in 3:13 the same time it took me to do my first marathon, but feeling a million times more comfortable! It was pleasing to get that one done by just after 7:30 on a Saturday.
I'm back on tracking my diet and weight and thanks to the recommendation by Martin Cox of a book called Proteinaholic by Dr Garth Davis have gone virtually 100% plant based. I haven't eaten meat in over two weeks and only very little dairy. I must admit it is early days but I feel fantastic and my recovery from training has almost certainly improved. The weight has also dropped off despite eating like a vegetarian king! I started at 149.6 lbs and 12.9%BF(19.3lbs) after my run on Monday 20th February and on Sunday 5th March I was 143.8lb and 11.6%BF(16.68lbs). Below is a chart I have put together that details my weight pre and post-run along with bodyfat percentage. An interesting thing that I have noticed is that after a Heat Acclimation run my body fat is much lower than after a regular outdoor run. You can see this with the peaks and troughs. The main thing is the trend lines for Body Mass and Body Fat are trending down!
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
T 18 miles inc. 4X18mins (5:49mm), 5 miles (7:39mm)
W 8 miles HA (6:41mm)
T 12 miles (6:46mm), 6 miles inc 3X30s strides & drills (7:49mm)
F 9 miles HA (6:34mm), 5 miles inc. 6X15s strides (7:36mm)
S 30 miles (6:26mm)
S 12.5 miles (6:49mm)
Total 120 miles (6:45mm)
Core 42 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 14 mins
Aerobic efficiency 997 beats per mile
Weight 142.6lbs (avge over the week)
Body Fat 11.5% (16.40lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.11 (119.94lbs)
Water 63.1% (89.98 lbs)
For any regular reader, apologies for the elusiveness of my blog the last few weeks. I ran the Liversegde Half Marathon about three weeks ago and the following week's training was shelved as it took my legs ages to recover! I also thought it would be worth having an easy week before getting on with the marathon specific phase. Unfortunately it meant I would miss the National (and indeed the whole XC season for one reason or another!) but it was the right decision as I do think another hard effort may well have burnt me out and scuppered London.
I had planned to use Liversedge as part of my long run as a solid effort but in the end got drawn into a decent race. I was sat in fourth place at halfway with the leader out of sight and second and third about 60 metres up the road. At this point I would have been happy with 4th place as I was feeling quite fatigued from the week's training and the conditions were horrendous. I just wanted to go home and have a warm bath! All of a sudden I found myself catching Tristan Learoyd of New Marske to go into third place and before long I had caught and overtaken Adam Peers of Wakefield to go second. Ian Harding was currently in first place and out of sight. I don't think I'd seen him since the fourth mile. As we turned to make a mile long drag up hill I could finally got a clear sight of him and as I was buoyed by getting myself into second place, I set about trying to reel him in. I cautiously closed the gap and caught him at 11.5 miles and went straight past. It was then just one foot in front of the other to take the win. I ran a time of 71:30 which was incredibly pleasing as it is a very very testing course with c1000ft of elevation.
So I then basically had a week off, and got back into things two weeks ago feeling fat and unfit! I knew that the fitness wouldn't be tfar away though so just concentrated on getting some miles in. The first week I did 108miles and then last week I upped that slightly to 120 with a session of 4X18 minutes off 3:00 and along run of 30 miles.
The session went well averaging 5:28 pace for the efforts which was a little surprising given I'd not run that fast since the half marathon a couple of weeks before. It was hard but comfortable and to be doing that sort of run eight weeks out was very pleasing.
The 30 miler was a bit of an early start as I take my youngest to ballet on Saturday mornings and wanted to get it out of the way before the rest of the weekend. So the alarm went of at 3:45 and I was out the door by 4:20. The run went really well and I felt strong the whole way. I ran without fuel or water as I genuinely believe running like this helps get your body fat burning and is a key specific part of marathon training. I didn't carry any water, basically because I find it a bit of a pain and I had made sure I was well hydrated in the couple of days before the run. I took in a hilly course and covered the 30 miles in 3:13 the same time it took me to do my first marathon, but feeling a million times more comfortable! It was pleasing to get that one done by just after 7:30 on a Saturday.
I'm back on tracking my diet and weight and thanks to the recommendation by Martin Cox of a book called Proteinaholic by Dr Garth Davis have gone virtually 100% plant based. I haven't eaten meat in over two weeks and only very little dairy. I must admit it is early days but I feel fantastic and my recovery from training has almost certainly improved. The weight has also dropped off despite eating like a vegetarian king! I started at 149.6 lbs and 12.9%BF(19.3lbs) after my run on Monday 20th February and on Sunday 5th March I was 143.8lb and 11.6%BF(16.68lbs). Below is a chart I have put together that details my weight pre and post-run along with bodyfat percentage. An interesting thing that I have noticed is that after a Heat Acclimation run my body fat is much lower than after a regular outdoor run. You can see this with the peaks and troughs. The main thing is the trend lines for Body Mass and Body Fat are trending down!
Charlie's Footsteps
Tuesday 31 January 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon Week 5 of 16
M 5 miles (8:12mm), 14 mils inc 10.4 miles 3/4 Effort (5:30mm)
T 6 miles (8:17mm)
W 3.5 miles (8:10mm), 10 miles 1/4 Effort (6:57mm)
T Rest
F Rest
S Rest
S 6 miles (8:00mm)
Total 45 miles (7:13mm)
Core 22 mins
Total Training Time 5 hrs 43 mins
Aerobic efficiency 986 beats per mile
So this week didn't exactly go to plan! As I mentioned on last week's blog, I was due to have a cut back week and then a hard race at the Northern XC on Saturday. Early in the week I could feel the onset of a cold and while I thought I would be able to run through it, I had decided by midweek that the Northern's probably wasn't a sensible idea and would just run easy instead. By Thursday I decided that I actually needed to rest to try and get it out of my system. It wasn't until Sunday that I managed to venture out again and although it was clear that the virus had shifted, I was feeling rather ploddy.
All that said, I had done a decent 3/4 effort run on the Monday where I covered around 10.4 miles in 57 minutes at a fraction below marathon effort again implying that the fitness is coming along nicely, unfortunately that run was probably the nail in the coffin to allow the virus to take hold!
I enjoyed seeing the results coming in form the Northern's with Dave Archer having a standout performance (15th) and his good lady wife, Hatti with a strong run for 2nd place behind Leeds City's international superstar, Claire Duck. Fellow club mates Mike Burrett and Adam Osborne told me of the horrific clay like mud that they had to endure and I am reliably informed that all concerned buried themselves, metaphorically as well as literally.
So back to it this week, where I'll be trying to get the miles and consistency back. There's only 11 weeks to go, I will need to start pulling my finger out soon!
As readers will know who read my last blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
T 6 miles (8:17mm)
W 3.5 miles (8:10mm), 10 miles 1/4 Effort (6:57mm)
T Rest
F Rest
S Rest
S 6 miles (8:00mm)
Total 45 miles (7:13mm)
Core 22 mins
Total Training Time 5 hrs 43 mins
Aerobic efficiency 986 beats per mile
So this week didn't exactly go to plan! As I mentioned on last week's blog, I was due to have a cut back week and then a hard race at the Northern XC on Saturday. Early in the week I could feel the onset of a cold and while I thought I would be able to run through it, I had decided by midweek that the Northern's probably wasn't a sensible idea and would just run easy instead. By Thursday I decided that I actually needed to rest to try and get it out of my system. It wasn't until Sunday that I managed to venture out again and although it was clear that the virus had shifted, I was feeling rather ploddy.
All that said, I had done a decent 3/4 effort run on the Monday where I covered around 10.4 miles in 57 minutes at a fraction below marathon effort again implying that the fitness is coming along nicely, unfortunately that run was probably the nail in the coffin to allow the virus to take hold!
I enjoyed seeing the results coming in form the Northern's with Dave Archer having a standout performance (15th) and his good lady wife, Hatti with a strong run for 2nd place behind Leeds City's international superstar, Claire Duck. Fellow club mates Mike Burrett and Adam Osborne told me of the horrific clay like mud that they had to endure and I am reliably informed that all concerned buried themselves, metaphorically as well as literally.
So back to it this week, where I'll be trying to get the miles and consistency back. There's only 11 weeks to go, I will need to start pulling my finger out soon!
As readers will know who read my last blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
Wednesday 25 January 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon Week 4 of 16
M 1/4 Effort 12 miles (7:11mm), 1/4 Effort 8 miles (6:50mm)
T 7 miles (6:30mm)
W 5 miles (8:02mm), 14 miles inc. 10 miles 3/4 Effort on grass (5:57mm)
T 1/2 Effort 17 miles (6:22mm), 5 miles (8:23mm)
F 1/4 Effort 12 miles (7:23mm), 7.5 miles including 4X2mins, 2X10s sprints (7:30mm)
S 1/2 Effort 22 miles (6:31mm), 5 miles (8:08mm)
S 1/4 Effort 12 miles (7:04mm)
Total 127 miles (6:57mm)
Core 21 mins
Total Training Time 15 hrs 06 mins
Aerobic efficiency 978 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 36.6
After Brass Monkey Half last week, I wanted to ensure I wasn't too keen to get back on the 3/4 efforts so only scheduled one for this week and did it on the grass which was somewhat boggier than the previous two times I've done it. It was pleasing that it came in at 5:57mm for a heart rate of 84% Working Heart Rate. I then had a couple of decent runs (17miles and 22 miles) at 1/2 effort (70-75% WHR) on the Thursday (a whole 7 minutes quicker than the previous week!) and Sunday over undulating routes. The rest of the week was largely just easy and recovery mileage.
Lydiard encourages a weekly fartlek to stay in touch with top end speed and does this through alactic sprints in one of the runs. These are essentially all out sprints for 5-6seconds. Any more and you start building lactate which apparently is detrimental to the aerobic conditioning phase. I am a little away from wanting to do a lot of sprints, or indeed really hard workouts so stuck a couple of sprints building up for about 5 seconds before going flat out for another 5. I did these in a recovery run after 4X2mins at marathon effort.
After Saturday's long run I did a 12miler at 1/4 Effort on the Sunday and it was really nice to see that the legs felt great after a mile or so and my HR was ticking along at lowly levels (c65%WHR) with the pace not too shabby.
I am starting to see my body really adapt to this aerobic mileage (aerobic efficiency is down to 978 beats per mile). In fact having taken the pressure off myself a bit, I must say I think I am enjoying my running as much as I ever have. It should come as no surprise really given I don't have a fast twitch fibre to my name so any time spent going much quicker than half marathon pace leaves me a little wrecked which results in me a) not being able to get the mileage in to keep my engine strong and b) really inconsistent racing results at shorter distances. It will be interesting to see what happens at Thirsk 10 miler in March as I plan to keep training pretty similar to as it is now until the National XC, after which it's start to look a bit more marathon specific. The only exceptions will be hard races at this week's Northerns (although that is looking highly unlikely now as I am suffering with a head cold and don't want it to develop into anything more sinister - a long lay off could set me back somewhat) and the National which Lydiard would probably disagree with at this stage but sod it!
I let my core work slip a little this week with only two 10 minute sessions, so need to rectify that a little but total training time was over 15 hours which is where I want to be on up weeks. John Cox, a reader of my blog asked me what core work I do and having spent many more hours watching videos of core work than I have ever performed I thought it was about time I just got something into my routine, so use the 'Viking ABC Core' routine (video below). This is a 10 minute routine so nothing massive but seems to activate all the right muscle groups. The motivation to do core post-run is virtually non-existent so for this to come a regular feature I really must try to keep this up prior to my recovery runs.
As readers will know who read my last blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Monday 16 January 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon Weeks 2 and 3 of 16
W/C 2nd January 2017
M 16.5 miles TM including 2X35mins (6:03mm) , 5 miles (8:17mm)
T 15 miles (7:08mm), 5 miles (7:56mm)
W 6.5 miles (7:50mm), 8.75 miles (7:07mm)
T 16 miles (7:13mm), 5 miles (7:52mm)
F 12.5 miles including 10 miles on grass (6:09mm), 4 miles (7:57mm)
S 5 miles (8:13mm)
S 20.5 miles (7:01mm)
Total 120 miles (7:08mm)
Core 45 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 54 mins
Aerobic efficiency 1018 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 37.9
W/C 9th January 2017
M 11 miles (7:22mm), 7 miles (7:50mm), 4 miles (7:59mm)
T 5 miles (7:53mm), 13 miles inc. 10 miles on grass (6:04mm), 4 miles (8:20mm)
W 9 miles (6:35mm), 4 miles (7:47mm)
T 17 miles (6:49mm), 6 miles (7:35mm)
F 10 miles inc. 7 miles @ 5:30mm TM (5:47mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:59mm)
S 20.5 miles including Brass Monkey Half in 72:09 (6:13mm)
Total 121.5 miles (6:54mm)
Core 52 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 49 mins
Aerobic efficiency 991 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 47.8
A double-whammy due to time constraints last week!
To be fair it's mainly just boring mileage (isn't it always?!) to report with nothing particularly tasty in the way of sessions but I have managed a couple of decent 120 mile weeks building on the first week of 115.
Given the focus is a bit Lydiard style at the moment for the week of 2nd Jan I did two 3/4 effort sessions. One on the Treadmill of 2X35 mins keeping my HR below 85% Working heart Rate and then followed that up with a 10 mile run on grass at 6:09mm. The week also had three other runs of over 15 miles including a 20 miler in Middleton Park. Middleton Park is set on a decent hill and about 2 miles around, so I did 8 laps bringing in a decent amount of vert. (I think that's what the trail runners call it!?!?). Aerobic efficiency was 1018 beats per mile across the week which isn't great but seems to reflect that I am starting at the bottom of the training pyramid again! With a bit of core work I totalled just under 15 hours of training. One thing I have noticed that is quite interesting is the Garmin Training Effect figure after each session which is supposed to give you an idea of what effect the run will have had on your overall fitness. It essentially goes on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being little improvement, 2 maintaining, 3 improving, 4 highly improving and 5 overreaching. The theory is that if you have too many in the 4s and 5's you'll soon be a crumbled heap of running mess! I plan to tot up the total weekly figure to give me an idea of the training load over any given week. It's more data so happy days.
The second week, Sharon Barlow Hamilton had transferred her number to me for the Brass monkey Half Marathon. Sadly she couldn't run due to a stress fracture, a runner's worst nightmare! As I said on my previous blog, at the mo I just want to enjoy my running so didn't want to race it hard and so it would form one of my sessions of the week within my long run. Tuesday saw me run 10 miles on grass again, this time at a slightly quicker pace than the previous week in worse conditions. I then had another decent run of 17 miles at 1/2 effort and a cheeky 3/4 effort on the TM on Friday. Then to Sunday and the Brass Monkey half where I planned to run at Marathon intensity, so for me a touch harder than Lydiard's so-called 3/4 effort. After 5.5 miles pre-race I got myself on the start line. Off we go and I have to say it was a most tedious race from a pacing perspective with every mile between 5:25-5:35mm and I finished feeling very comfortable in 72:09 and 8th place for another good week's training. This was quite a bit quicker than I had thought I would run but as the effort was what I wanted I am very pleased with the result given it's 14 weeks to London.
Charlie's Footsteps
M 16.5 miles TM including 2X35mins (6:03mm) , 5 miles (8:17mm)
T 15 miles (7:08mm), 5 miles (7:56mm)
W 6.5 miles (7:50mm), 8.75 miles (7:07mm)
T 16 miles (7:13mm), 5 miles (7:52mm)
F 12.5 miles including 10 miles on grass (6:09mm), 4 miles (7:57mm)
S 5 miles (8:13mm)
S 20.5 miles (7:01mm)
Total 120 miles (7:08mm)
Core 45 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 54 mins
Aerobic efficiency 1018 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 37.9
W/C 9th January 2017
M 11 miles (7:22mm), 7 miles (7:50mm), 4 miles (7:59mm)
T 5 miles (7:53mm), 13 miles inc. 10 miles on grass (6:04mm), 4 miles (8:20mm)
W 9 miles (6:35mm), 4 miles (7:47mm)
T 17 miles (6:49mm), 6 miles (7:35mm)
F 10 miles inc. 7 miles @ 5:30mm TM (5:47mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:59mm)
S 20.5 miles including Brass Monkey Half in 72:09 (6:13mm)
Total 121.5 miles (6:54mm)
Core 52 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 49 mins
Aerobic efficiency 991 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 47.8
A double-whammy due to time constraints last week!
To be fair it's mainly just boring mileage (isn't it always?!) to report with nothing particularly tasty in the way of sessions but I have managed a couple of decent 120 mile weeks building on the first week of 115.
Given the focus is a bit Lydiard style at the moment for the week of 2nd Jan I did two 3/4 effort sessions. One on the Treadmill of 2X35 mins keeping my HR below 85% Working heart Rate and then followed that up with a 10 mile run on grass at 6:09mm. The week also had three other runs of over 15 miles including a 20 miler in Middleton Park. Middleton Park is set on a decent hill and about 2 miles around, so I did 8 laps bringing in a decent amount of vert. (I think that's what the trail runners call it!?!?). Aerobic efficiency was 1018 beats per mile across the week which isn't great but seems to reflect that I am starting at the bottom of the training pyramid again! With a bit of core work I totalled just under 15 hours of training. One thing I have noticed that is quite interesting is the Garmin Training Effect figure after each session which is supposed to give you an idea of what effect the run will have had on your overall fitness. It essentially goes on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being little improvement, 2 maintaining, 3 improving, 4 highly improving and 5 overreaching. The theory is that if you have too many in the 4s and 5's you'll soon be a crumbled heap of running mess! I plan to tot up the total weekly figure to give me an idea of the training load over any given week. It's more data so happy days.
The second week, Sharon Barlow Hamilton had transferred her number to me for the Brass monkey Half Marathon. Sadly she couldn't run due to a stress fracture, a runner's worst nightmare! As I said on my previous blog, at the mo I just want to enjoy my running so didn't want to race it hard and so it would form one of my sessions of the week within my long run. Tuesday saw me run 10 miles on grass again, this time at a slightly quicker pace than the previous week in worse conditions. I then had another decent run of 17 miles at 1/2 effort and a cheeky 3/4 effort on the TM on Friday. Then to Sunday and the Brass Monkey half where I planned to run at Marathon intensity, so for me a touch harder than Lydiard's so-called 3/4 effort. After 5.5 miles pre-race I got myself on the start line. Off we go and I have to say it was a most tedious race from a pacing perspective with every mile between 5:25-5:35mm and I finished feeling very comfortable in 72:09 and 8th place for another good week's training. This was quite a bit quicker than I had thought I would run but as the effort was what I wanted I am very pleased with the result given it's 14 weeks to London.
Finish at Brass Monkey Half - Photo credit Ben McNeilage
The overall aerobic efficiency has dropped below the 1000 mark again which just goes to show that lots of easy and steady running can bring improvements in economy.
I'm now going to have another big week of miles before a slight cut back week, which will include the Northern XC Champs and I will probably run that quite hard.
As readers will know who read my last blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
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