Louise was working this evening, so I finished work a bit early to look after Kane. The cycle ride home was a work out in itself with a gale blowing against me all the way home.
After Kane had his tea, we drove over to Allen and Margaret's and Kane stayed there whilst I went for a run. The run was at an easy pace which suited me as my legs were aching from yesterday's fartlek and the cycle ride home from work. I was day dreaming for most of the run and before I knew it I was finished.
Run stats: 56:19 minutes, 7.5 miles - 7:31 minutes per mile
Friday, 29 February 2008
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Training with Paul Tergat
I was back to work today and Louise had to go out at 8:30pm this evening, so I dashed home from work to fit in my 70 minutes of Fartlek before Louise went out.
A couple of Christmas' ago someone bought me a book about the lengendary kenyan distance runner Paul Tergat. The book is a profile of Tergat's running career and it also details some of the training regimes that he has undertaken in the past, plus some recommended programmes for amateurs such as myself. For fartlek training for marathons, he recommends 10 min warm up, 12 min quick/ 4 min slow/ 6 min quick/ 3 min slow, repeated once or twice, followed by 10 min warm down.
Two repetitions fitted my schedule so that is what I did. I figured if I ran an average of roughly seven minute miles, I would need a ten mile loop. I ran out to Banstead and into Epsom, coming back through Ewell and Cheam to make my ten miles and it work out to be just the right distance.
Run stats: 70:39 minutes, 10.13 miles - pace irrelevant
A couple of Christmas' ago someone bought me a book about the lengendary kenyan distance runner Paul Tergat. The book is a profile of Tergat's running career and it also details some of the training regimes that he has undertaken in the past, plus some recommended programmes for amateurs such as myself. For fartlek training for marathons, he recommends 10 min warm up, 12 min quick/ 4 min slow/ 6 min quick/ 3 min slow, repeated once or twice, followed by 10 min warm down.
Two repetitions fitted my schedule so that is what I did. I figured if I ran an average of roughly seven minute miles, I would need a ten mile loop. I ran out to Banstead and into Epsom, coming back through Ewell and Cheam to make my ten miles and it work out to be just the right distance.
Run stats: 70:39 minutes, 10.13 miles - pace irrelevant
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Training in England
We arrived back in Sutton at about lunch time. Today was scheduled for a 45 minute steady run. Just before it got dark at about 5pm I took Ronnie over to Oaks Park and went for a run. This afternoon I have been looking over the map trying to find a good long run for the weekend.
I have just added in some pictures onto the post from Sunday 17th Feb. They are pictures of Dave and myself from the Sussex Beacon Half.
Run stats: 41:29 minutes, 5.86 miles - 7.05 minutes per mile
I have just added in some pictures onto the post from Sunday 17th Feb. They are pictures of Dave and myself from the Sussex Beacon Half.
Run stats: 41:29 minutes, 5.86 miles - 7.05 minutes per mile
Back from Portugal
I arrived back from Portugal today. We had a good break of six days with variable weather, three nice hot and sunny days with three overcast and at times rainy weather in between. Louise Kane and myself stayed in a two bedroom villa on the Algarve coast next to a golf course.
I managed to keep up the running whilst away and I will attempt to summarise it as best as I can in this post. I left my stopwatch in the UK, so the run times are not accurate, on the first run I didn't time it at all.
Wednesday 20th Feb (scheduled for 45 minutes easy pace)
We arrived early in the morning; in the afternoon I attempted to follow the 7.2 mile route that I had worked out on the internet on the previous evening. I had written out detailed instructions. The first 5.5 miles went well, in fact it was a really nice run, what had looked like fairly major tarmac roads were dirt tracks and the route was rural, encountering very few vehicles.
After 5.5 miles I missed a right hand turn, this didn't affect me too much and was actually a short cut. Once I was back at the start, I tried to work out where I had gone wrong by running the last section of the route backwards to rejoin the circuit where I missed my right turn.
I ended up getting dreadfully lost and eventually found myself back on the original circuit at around the four mile mark. This time I managed to run home by the correct route.
I have just retraced my steps on the internet and I ran for a total of 13.4 miles. I have no idea how long I was out for, but I know I was absolutely knackered - it was a long run and it was a hot day.
Thursday 21st Feb (scheduled for 45 minutes easy pace)
It was another hot day, this time I ran the 7.2 mile route as intended.
Run stats: Approx 53 mins, 7.2 miles - 7:22 minutes per mile
Friday 22nd Feb (scheduled for 70 minutes race pace)
Friday was a bit gloomy and the sun didn't really shine all day, but there wasn't any rain either.
I was still a bit tired from the previous two day's running and I ran too soon after lunch, so didn't run as fast as I might have liked. I ran the same route as before, but added another small loop.
Run stats: Approx 73 mins, 10.13 miles - 7:12 minutes per mile
Sunday 24th Feb (scheduled for 145 minutes - long, slow run)
On Saturday Mike and Elaine joined us in the villa, Saturday had been a wash out, so we had spent a lot of the day indoors. When Sunday was shaping up to be a similar day, I was glad to get out in the morning for a long run. I had hoped to try a bit of cross country for my long run whilst in the Algarve and had picked up some leaflets with route maps for hikers and mountain bikers from the tourist information. The problem was that the routes were a bit short and coupled with the bad weather I decided to just do three of my normal laps.
I realised that this would be about twenty miles and I started really slowly, running the first lap well within myself. It was raining quite heavily during the first lap, but during the second lap after about eight or nine miles there was a major thunderstorm right over me and the rain came flooding down. If someone had squirted me with a hosepipe for ten minutes I could not have been wetter. One bolt of lightning hit the ground close to me - it was quite scary - and the roads were flooding, I ran through stretches of water where the water was half-way up my shins. However I didn't stop running apart from to re-tie my laces. I returned to the villa bedraggled but pleased with the run.
Run stats: Approx 158 mins, 21 miles - 7:31 minutes per mile
Monday 25th Feb (scheduled for 25 minutes easy)
The sun was back out today, I was going to do my recovery run with Mike and Elaine today, as they are doing a 10km run in a few weeks. They ate and drank too much at lunch time and crashed out in the afternoon, so I jogged round the small loop on my own.
Run stats: Approx 25 mins, 3.23 miles - 7:44 minutes per mile
I managed to keep up the running whilst away and I will attempt to summarise it as best as I can in this post. I left my stopwatch in the UK, so the run times are not accurate, on the first run I didn't time it at all.
Wednesday 20th Feb (scheduled for 45 minutes easy pace)
We arrived early in the morning; in the afternoon I attempted to follow the 7.2 mile route that I had worked out on the internet on the previous evening. I had written out detailed instructions. The first 5.5 miles went well, in fact it was a really nice run, what had looked like fairly major tarmac roads were dirt tracks and the route was rural, encountering very few vehicles.
After 5.5 miles I missed a right hand turn, this didn't affect me too much and was actually a short cut. Once I was back at the start, I tried to work out where I had gone wrong by running the last section of the route backwards to rejoin the circuit where I missed my right turn.
I ended up getting dreadfully lost and eventually found myself back on the original circuit at around the four mile mark. This time I managed to run home by the correct route.
I have just retraced my steps on the internet and I ran for a total of 13.4 miles. I have no idea how long I was out for, but I know I was absolutely knackered - it was a long run and it was a hot day.
Thursday 21st Feb (scheduled for 45 minutes easy pace)
It was another hot day, this time I ran the 7.2 mile route as intended.
Run stats: Approx 53 mins, 7.2 miles - 7:22 minutes per mile
Friday 22nd Feb (scheduled for 70 minutes race pace)
Friday was a bit gloomy and the sun didn't really shine all day, but there wasn't any rain either.
I was still a bit tired from the previous two day's running and I ran too soon after lunch, so didn't run as fast as I might have liked. I ran the same route as before, but added another small loop.
Run stats: Approx 73 mins, 10.13 miles - 7:12 minutes per mile
Sunday 24th Feb (scheduled for 145 minutes - long, slow run)
On Saturday Mike and Elaine joined us in the villa, Saturday had been a wash out, so we had spent a lot of the day indoors. When Sunday was shaping up to be a similar day, I was glad to get out in the morning for a long run. I had hoped to try a bit of cross country for my long run whilst in the Algarve and had picked up some leaflets with route maps for hikers and mountain bikers from the tourist information. The problem was that the routes were a bit short and coupled with the bad weather I decided to just do three of my normal laps.
I realised that this would be about twenty miles and I started really slowly, running the first lap well within myself. It was raining quite heavily during the first lap, but during the second lap after about eight or nine miles there was a major thunderstorm right over me and the rain came flooding down. If someone had squirted me with a hosepipe for ten minutes I could not have been wetter. One bolt of lightning hit the ground close to me - it was quite scary - and the roads were flooding, I ran through stretches of water where the water was half-way up my shins. However I didn't stop running apart from to re-tie my laces. I returned to the villa bedraggled but pleased with the run.
Run stats: Approx 158 mins, 21 miles - 7:31 minutes per mile
Monday 25th Feb (scheduled for 25 minutes easy)
The sun was back out today, I was going to do my recovery run with Mike and Elaine today, as they are doing a 10km run in a few weeks. They ate and drank too much at lunch time and crashed out in the afternoon, so I jogged round the small loop on my own.
Run stats: Approx 25 mins, 3.23 miles - 7:44 minutes per mile
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
New shoes
I was not at work today, so I took the opportunity to visit a running shop and bought a new pair of shoes. They are Asics and they seem very comfortable.
Later in the day, Gill looked after Kane while I went to the Gym. The schedule instructed me to include 4 x 10 minute intervals with 2.5 minute recoveries in between. I was a bit over-ambitious with the speed of my intervals, I attempted 16km/h with 11km/h recoveries. However by the time I was four minutes into my third interval, it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to complete the intervals at that rate, so I cut my run speed down to 15km/h.
I then finished and went home and I have spent the last hour or so packing for a week in Portugal. I have figured out a basic route for the next couple of days, but will have to work out a long run for the weekend once I arrive.
Later in the day, Gill looked after Kane while I went to the Gym. The schedule instructed me to include 4 x 10 minute intervals with 2.5 minute recoveries in between. I was a bit over-ambitious with the speed of my intervals, I attempted 16km/h with 11km/h recoveries. However by the time I was four minutes into my third interval, it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to complete the intervals at that rate, so I cut my run speed down to 15km/h.
I then finished and went home and I have spent the last hour or so packing for a week in Portugal. I have figured out a basic route for the next couple of days, but will have to work out a long run for the weekend once I arrive.
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Half marathon
This morning Dave and I ran in the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon in Brighton. When we first got into the car at 8am, the temperature was minus 4 centigrade and we weren't particularly looking forward to freezing running conditions. The sun was out though and by the time we reached Brighton the temperature was just nudging above freezing.
We parked in the Marina, them trudged down to the start in perfect time - arriving about ten minutes before the start. The race was well organised, but a little uninspiring - there was a two mile loop around the city centre, followed by three miles along the seafront towards Hove,then doubled back on ourselves running about five/six miles against the wind back past the pier up to the Marina, then back again to the finish near the pier. It was hard to run an even pace as there was a big difference between running with a tail-wind or a head-wind.
Dave and I were respectively trying to run sub-105 minutes and sub-90 minutes; we both ran significantly faster than our goals, so it was a cheerful journey home.
Run stats: 87:33 minutes, 13.1 miles - 6:41 minutes per mile
Friday, 15 February 2008
Back into the swing of things
After a long period without running, I went for a jog earlier this evening. Since I went for a run round a roman park last Friday, I haven't run at all. This was due to the fact that I over-indulged in Rome and missed my long run. Plus I returned home with a very heavy cold which I am still shaking off.
Despite the fact that I haven't run for a week, I haven't deviated too far from my training schedule. After the missed long run in Rome, this was supposed to be a week of tapering the training to allow a strong run in the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon in Brighton on Sunday. My training schedule recommended only two runs this week and I have done one of those this evening.
As for this evening's run - it was very enjoyable and my legs felt very fresh (as you'd expect with a weeks rest). The only negative was an acute stitch about half way round, I had exactly the same thing about 2-3 weeks ago, it is quite painful and not something I'm used to when I run.
Looking forward to the half-marathon on Sunday - hopefully I'll go sub-90 minutes!
Run stats: 36:00 minutes, 5.15 miles - 6:59 minutes per mile
Despite the fact that I haven't run for a week, I haven't deviated too far from my training schedule. After the missed long run in Rome, this was supposed to be a week of tapering the training to allow a strong run in the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon in Brighton on Sunday. My training schedule recommended only two runs this week and I have done one of those this evening.
As for this evening's run - it was very enjoyable and my legs felt very fresh (as you'd expect with a weeks rest). The only negative was an acute stitch about half way round, I had exactly the same thing about 2-3 weeks ago, it is quite painful and not something I'm used to when I run.
Looking forward to the half-marathon on Sunday - hopefully I'll go sub-90 minutes!
Run stats: 36:00 minutes, 5.15 miles - 6:59 minutes per mile
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Update from Rome
I have been in Rome since Friday and I'm having fun. However the planned training has gone by the wayside. On Friday afternoon, I went for a 35 minute slow run in the large park, Villa Borghese, which is close to the hotel.
I planned to go for a longer run yesterday morning. The problem was that I had had too much to drink on Friday night and I felt in no mood for a 13 mile run. I am now enjoying my break and will resume training once I am back in the UK.
I planned to go for a longer run yesterday morning. The problem was that I had had too much to drink on Friday night and I felt in no mood for a 13 mile run. I am now enjoying my break and will resume training once I am back in the UK.
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Ashtead run
I met up with Tommy this evening to run in Ashtead. According to my training schedule I was supposed to rest today. But bearing in mind that I am going to Rome tomorrow for a long weekend, I thought I would use a rest day whilst I am away. Therefore Tommy and I went for a 50 minute steady run.
We didn't have a pre-planned route, but we did a circuit round Ashtead, venturing into Leatherhead and the run lasted nearly 49 minutes, so it was judged quite well.
I felt very heavy legged from start to finish and could have probably done with a rest this evening.
Whilst in Rome, I plan to go for a 25 minute slow run tomorrow, and on Saturday morning I will do my long run. This weekend I am scheduled to do 90 minutes at a good pace, so I have worked out a very simple there and back again route from the hotel, so I don't get lost. Then on Sunday and Monday I won't run.
Run stats: 48:36 minutes, 6.47 miles - 7:31 minutes/mile
We didn't have a pre-planned route, but we did a circuit round Ashtead, venturing into Leatherhead and the run lasted nearly 49 minutes, so it was judged quite well.
I felt very heavy legged from start to finish and could have probably done with a rest this evening.
Whilst in Rome, I plan to go for a 25 minute slow run tomorrow, and on Saturday morning I will do my long run. This weekend I am scheduled to do 90 minutes at a good pace, so I have worked out a very simple there and back again route from the hotel, so I don't get lost. Then on Sunday and Monday I won't run.
Run stats: 48:36 minutes, 6.47 miles - 7:31 minutes/mile
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Fartlek
This evening's session was scheduled to be 60 minutes of fartlek with long duration efforts. To achieve this I decided to approach the fartlek slightly differently to before. Rather than short bursts of repeated hills I went for a long circular run of about 9 miles with sequences of effort and recovery of about five minutes apiece.
I tried out a new route and managed to complete five sets of five minute high intensity efforts throughout the run and my legs feel tired now that I've finished.
I also managed to include a pit stop half a mile from the finish. I knew that there were a few friends meeting at the pub to watch the England game, so I took a slight detour and popped in for a surprise pint of lager and then trotted off home - at a slower pace than I arrived!
Run stats: 67:45 minutes, 9.4 miles - pace is irrelevant
I tried out a new route and managed to complete five sets of five minute high intensity efforts throughout the run and my legs feel tired now that I've finished.
I also managed to include a pit stop half a mile from the finish. I knew that there were a few friends meeting at the pub to watch the England game, so I took a slight detour and popped in for a surprise pint of lager and then trotted off home - at a slower pace than I arrived!
Run stats: 67:45 minutes, 9.4 miles - pace is irrelevant
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Quicker run
I wasn't at work today and the fact that my day hasn't fitted into it's usual routine meant that I really didn't fancy going for a run this evening.
Once I was out and running I felt pretty good though, my legs have finally recovered from the weekend's long run. I did the same alternative route that I did last week but with a little variation making the run marginally further.
I was obviously feeling better than last week as I ran the route quicker, but with less effort.
Run stats: 46.41 minutes, 6.91 miles - 6.45 minutes per mile
Once I was out and running I felt pretty good though, my legs have finally recovered from the weekend's long run. I did the same alternative route that I did last week but with a little variation making the run marginally further.
I was obviously feeling better than last week as I ran the route quicker, but with less effort.
Run stats: 46.41 minutes, 6.91 miles - 6.45 minutes per mile
Monday, 4 February 2008
Recovery jog
Louise was out with work friends this evening, so Olly and Lisa looked after Kane while I did my short run. I am off to Rome this weekend, so I was working out a long run for Saturday morning through the streets of Roma - I hope I don't get lost!
Run stats: 25.32 minutes, 3.43 miles - 7:27 minutes per mile
Run stats: 25.32 minutes, 3.43 miles - 7:27 minutes per mile
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Long run
This weekend, I did my long run on Saturday instead of Sunday. I swapped days because a group of us went out yesterday evening to celebrate Olly's thirty-first birthday. This celebration therefore broke my period of abstinence from alcohol. Today, I correctedly predicted would be tainted with a hangover and I didn't fancy doing a long run under those circumstances.
The schedule for this weekend's run was 120-130 minutes slow. Matt agreed to accompany me again on his bike. I had worked out a circular run from my house.
We set out through Belmont Downs, up and over Epsom Downs, through Langley Vale into Ashtead. From there, we went into Epsom, then Ewell and Cheam and home. It was all on road apart from a couple of miles at the start where the ground was frozen anyway.
It was a fairly comfortable run until we arrived in Ewell, from here the last 2-3 miles were predominantly uphill and a bit of a struggle. The run was just over 17 miles and is the longest distance I have ever run.
Run stats: 128:38 minutes, 17.15 miles - 7:30 minutes per mile
The schedule for this weekend's run was 120-130 minutes slow. Matt agreed to accompany me again on his bike. I had worked out a circular run from my house.
We set out through Belmont Downs, up and over Epsom Downs, through Langley Vale into Ashtead. From there, we went into Epsom, then Ewell and Cheam and home. It was all on road apart from a couple of miles at the start where the ground was frozen anyway.
It was a fairly comfortable run until we arrived in Ewell, from here the last 2-3 miles were predominantly uphill and a bit of a struggle. The run was just over 17 miles and is the longest distance I have ever run.
Run stats: 128:38 minutes, 17.15 miles - 7:30 minutes per mile
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