Man v Machine

Back on the treadmill at lunch for my recovery run, though I think for my own well-being I should run these outside. I get frustrated that I'm not doing the distance as quickly as I would outside, but the whole point of this run is to listen to your body and take it easy, not judge yourself against the little digital counter in front of you. It doesn't care if you didn't get the sleep you wanted the night before or that you had a tough run the day before its just going to run at this pace whether you like it or not. Perhaps I should put a towel over the readouts so that I can't see how fast I'm going and just accept the mileage when I feel I've done enough.

Broken Training Partner

Step in mileage of one midweek runs to 7 miles. I've been a bit worrried recently that most of my running has been on the flat so I decided to take in a hillier route today to start boosting my leg strength. The route has a long slow climb out at the beginning to wake you up before a very long hill at mile 4 that just goes on and on for over a mile.
Anyway I was out running with the same chap I've been running on and off with for the past couple of weeks. He is not running as much as myself at the moment so isn't improving as quickly as I seem to be. I'll give him his due though, he stuck there with me right until the last 200 metres. Unfortunately his calf muscle decided to give out at this point. I'm not sure how bad it is but he spent the rest of the afternoon hobbling about. Hopefully it will be speedy recovery.

20 weeks to go

The london marathon is 20 weeks today, when I say it in those terms it seems very close. I keeping on wanting to panic that I'm not running enough but I must not do that. When I look calmly at my training everything is on target if anything I'm ahead of schedule.

When I look back to the condition I was in when I started training 9 weeks ago I could hardly run 4 miles, now its 13 miles. My short recovery run this morning took me to over just over 36 miles for the week and 220 miles since I started training. As it says on the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy "Dont Panic!"

Acceptance Pack

Two more training runs. Yesterday was supposed to be my 6 mile Marathon Pace but I decided to have a change and ran a negative split session on the treadmill based roughly around my marathon pace this went well I need to practice this a bit more to get used to a slow start and building up. One of my running partners was on the treadmill next to me and we exchanged the normal chat you do on a run. This was quite good as it broke up the monotony.
This mornings run was a journey into the unknown for me as will most of the Saturday training runs from now on. I broke the 2 hr barrier for a run and covered 13 miles, The last time I ran 13 miles was a Half Marathon I did about 4 or 5 years ago. I can never remember running for 2 hrs before.
The run was going OK until I realised I had made a bit of route planning error, I was going to climb a hill and had mentally prepared for this being the last hill. Then I looked at my watch and realised I had another 20 minutes to run. I had to put more miles in and this involved another climb. None of these climbs are that difficult, but it was the disappointment of being faced with it that was annoying thing. It was a hard slog the last mile and a bit but I got through it.
Fortunately I had a "pick-me-up" waiting for me when I got home. The acceptance pack for the Marathon and with it my number. I am runner number 9075. I know I have a letter saying I'm in and that my cheque was cashed but the arrival of this number makes the Marathon seem that much closer. The big day itself is 20 weeks tomorrow.

A big thank-you

First and foremost I would like to thank the person who donated £50 towards my fundraising. I don't actually know the person which was even more surprising. It was a wonderful boost to see the pledge this morning after my interval session. I now know the name but they made they decided to keep the name anonymous from everyone else and I will respect that here. Again Thanks!

I've been lucky enough that my company put an article about my marathon run on the intranet, right at the top of the home page! I must admit I'm a little embarrassed to look at the intranet now. That's were the big donation came from.

Today's diary was horrid. There was a slim chance of getting a 20 min lunch break but absolutely no chance of getting a run in. Fortunately I knew about this yesterday so altered my run schedule. I was going to do 400m reps up a gentle incline but got into work really early and went on the treadmill for an 800m reps session instead. It was really the same as last week except I did 5 reps today instead of 4. All I can say is I knew I had done a session at the end of it!

"Your definitely losing weight"

Blogger seemed to be acting up yesterday so I've got 2 runs to report on. Yesterday's was a comfortable 5 miler at lunchtime, though I very nearly didn't make it. My boss asked me what I was doing at 1 o'clock and I said "Running, why?" "I'd like you to do an interview he said" OK I can go out for my run at 11:30 no problem. Then he says "lets meet at 12:45 to discuss" OK I have to go out at 11:15, what was the time 11:10 oh beep! I'm glad to say I managed to fit my run in and be back in time to do the interview.

Today's run was the sort 3 mile recovery effort. As I was working at home this morning I threw myself out of the door early to get it over and done with before I started reading my e-mails. I ran the same route as I did on Sunday night, but it was amazing how much more confident my running was with it being light. My heartrate was only a couple of beats quicker but I managed to get round 2 minutes quicker.

When I got back my spirits were lifted further by the wife saying "Your definitely losing weight". Apparently the bulging stomach isn't quite so bulging and the shoulders are better defined - whatever that's supposed to mean!

Night time running and passing 30

Last night I went for my first night time run in I do not know who many years. It wasn't far as yesterday was the recovery run (3 miles) from the long haul the day before, but its strange how a familiar route is total different in the dark. The run also marked a couple of other milestones.

1) I passed 30 miles per week (it was 32 in total)
and
2) I now running 6 times a week. So I'm now up to to my full complement of weekly runs. They just start getting longer.

My mum has started reading this this so - Hi Mum!

Cold and Wet

I was reading one of my fellow FLM bound runners weblog last night (Fake Swede) who lives in Sweden. He currently has daytime tempratures of minus 5 degrees to deal with - So I can't really complain that I thought it was cold when I set off this morning. It was the rain half-way round that got me! Having said that it must be seen as a temporary discomfort that a warm shower and dry clothes soon changes. Something to look forward to at the of these long slow runs.

Getting boring

It was a bit quiet in the gym at lunchtime. We aren't allowed to have any music in the gym as the office next door complains about the noise - perhaps it wakes them up ;-) So there ain't a great deal of stimulus when pounding out the miles on a treadmill. My boredom level was put to the test today as it was my marathon pace run, once I had got myself going there was nothing else to do but look out of the window at the car park.

OK whinge time while I've been typing this entry I'e just been called saying I've won a holiday. I get a few of these but this one was different - it was a pre-recorded message! I was so shocked it took me a couple of seconds before I slammed the phone down.

Feeling better

I'm glad to say I'm feeling better today, which was a pity as I didn't have an excuse not to do my interval session at lunchtime. It was the good old 800 metre reps, only 4 but 4 were enough for a pair of legs that hadn't done any for a while.

I always seem to think that I'll not last the rep but I seem to get into a groove which lasts long enough for me to reach the end. I suppose its for this reason I prefer doing these sessions on a treadmill, you can't slack off on one of these. You can of course hit the wrong button at the wrong time as happened to me today I meant to slow the machine down at the end of a rep and hit the stop button by mistake! or perhaps it was a Freudian slip and I wanted to stop. Anyway thats the hard part of the week over with.

Feeling under the weather

I've been feeling a bit rough today, I think there is a bit of a cold doing the rounds. I could have passed on my run today as it was only a short easy run but I decided as it is only a head cold and isn't affecting my breathing or making me feel achy that I would go for a run on the treadmill. Everything went fine and I didn't have an elevated pulse rate. If I'm feeling the same tomorrow then the decision might be a bit harder as its 800 metre intervals. I'll have to make sure I get to bed on time and get a good nights sleep.

50 minute lunchtime run

I had a big fight with the bed this morning. It just wouldn't get off my back, but eventually I won. Just as well because today was another step up in the mileage. My lunchtime run was a comfortably paced 6 and a bit miles which took me just over 52 minutes. Unfortunately there is the problem, 40 minute lunchtime runs are OK but when the get to 50+ minutes then by the time I've showered and changed thats a long long lunch hour.

Fortunately I work flexitime so I just come in early and leave at a reasonable time, but these runs are going to get up to 10 miles which will be about 1hr 20 of running time. Although its only 30 minutes more than today it's still an extra 30 minutes. Lets hope my boss is understanding in Feb and March.

Half way to the peak

Today marks 2 milestones in my training program. The first is that I am doing half the mileage per week (28 this week) that I will be doing at the peak of my training (56) and the 2nd not surprinsingly given the first is that my long run, it was 11 today, is more than half way to been the length needed at the peak of training. I've also noticed some changes in my fitness. Normally I struggle to keep my heart rate down on my long run but I didn't have any problems today. Another good sign is that my long runs are beginning to be a little quicker in pace but not any harder in effort. The last probably the most important is that I am enjoying my running again!

All in all this has given me a good feeling that I'm not only going to run the marathon but run it well.

Addicted to the treadmill?

I was on the treadmill again today. This time for a harder tempo run, where I build up the pace before running at 10K pace for half a mile or so. The run itself was for 4 miles but I started thinking about how I'm becoming far too attached to the treadmill, if I did my normal training routine I would be doing 12 miles on a treadmill this week compared to 15 miles outside. This isn't right I need to discipline my mind as well as my body. I need to run at a pace because I feel comfortable at it, not because a machine is making me go at a pace.

I was quite relieved when I had a look at my training plan and found that it was suggesting a comfortable run for Friday. This is good news as it means I can take off for the road on Friday and just run. I may even try and find some new routes.

Entered another race

As part of my training I'll be doing some other races prior to the big day in April. I entered the first of these today. It's the Victory 5 miler in Portsmouth at the beginning of December. I particularly like racing around Portsmouth, its very flat so a quick time is normal possible. Or a quick time is normally possible if you are not overweight and haven't trained for a race in 3 years. I've put an estimated time of 35 minutes down but I suspect that will be a struggle at this early stage of training. There was a time I could think of being in the hunt for a sub 30. Anyway the race isn't for another 3 weeks so plenty of time to pack in some speedwork. That reminds me its speedwork day tomorrow and its time for bed....

Oh No - Its Monday

I was most disappointment this morning when the alarm went off. I thought it odd that I'd set the alarm for a Sunday Morning. Then it dawned on me that it was Monday and I would have to get out of bed. I was a bit tired this morning probably as I'd been walking all round Legoland with a bunch of kids yesterday. I wasn't looking forward to my lunchtime run.

Despite my trepidation it was actually a very good run at a reasonable pace. In fact over the 5 miles I was able to average just under 8 min/miles, without getting into any real difficulties and was 2 minutes quicker than the same run last week without having to work too much harder.

I've been a bit worried recently that I won't be quick enough to achieve my target time, today's run help ease those worries a little.

Running for Anthony Nolan

I've always said that I wanted to run FLM for myself and that I would never take a Golden Bond charity place as the pressure of having to raise the money and do the training would be too much. I did however decide a couple of weeks ago that I would use my place as an opportunity to raise some money for charity, especially as I have my own place there is no minimum amount to raise. So the question was which one? My cousin is recovering from leukaemia so it was going to be one of this group of charities. In the end I let her decide which one it should be. Her answer came back straight away - Anthony Nolan, the Bone Marrow matching organisation.

I think running for a charity will help in my determination to run the marathon as if I fail I won't only be letting myself down but a whole lot of people needing bone marrow donors.

Seems to be getting easier

Today was another treadmill day looking to run at my Marathon pace. I managed 5 miles quite comfortably, in fact I remember looking at the readouts and thinking "is that all that's left?". I suppose the danger here is that I might get carried away with myself and overdo it like a couple of weeks ago. That would be a bad idea. No - I'm going to take the small improvements as they come and gradually build on them

Finding the right hill

I meant to post this yesterday but blogger was acting up.

Today was back to hills. As I'm back at work I've had to find a new hill to charge up and down. This is proving to be a little harder than I expected. The nearest inclines are actually long and slow, more of a slope than anything else. There is one steeper climb that I've started running along but it starts off as loose gravel and mud before turning into tarmac. I don't like doing speedwork on loose, uneven surfaces, the chances of twisting an ankle are too high for my liking. So I can only get about 200 metres which I don't think is long enough to be of benefit. I didn't feel as if I'd worked hard enough at the end of the session. I suppose I will have to continue looking for the right hill.

In the Gym

Today was a short recovery run of 3 miles.

I read on Hal Higdons site that these are the ideal runs to combine with a bit of light strength work and stretching and one of his suggestions was to use a treamill then go straight onto the weights machines and finish off with some stretching. I followed his advice to the letter. I did my 27 minutes of running then did some shoulder weights and then some leg work. The thing that was stressed is this shouldn't be a big iron pumping event, it should only be about 60% of the maximum you can lift and done often (2 sets of 12 reps). I washed this done with some stretching.

Tomorrow will be one of the testing sessions 2 mile warm-up then some hills and a 2 mile wam-down. Something to look forward too...

Sorta Long

I've decided that I'm going to follow Hal Higdon's Advance 1 Marathon Schedule for my training schedule. He's highly recommended on the Runners World Forums. As part of his training plan he has what is called a "Sorta long" run. This isn't as long as the long run but its not as slow as it either. Today has sorta long day.

I tried a new route out from work and took a friend with me. He's an ex-800 metre runner and I was a bit worried that he'd blast off and leave me in his wake. We trotted off around the industrial estates and woods that surround our office. 5 comfortable miles later we arrive back at the office. Well when I say comfortable miles I mean comfortable for me, my running partner looked as if he wanted to expire. Although the pace wasn't quite as quick as I would have liked, about 23 sec/mile off marathon pace, I can't complain it was nice just out running with someone.