4-12 November 2013 - Apologies for the intermission

I haven't posted on here in a week because everything went a bit off the rails over the last week. Last Tuesday was fine, with 6 miles completed at 7.5 mph. Pretty much exactly to plan so I'm pleased with that, I did feel fairly lethargic in the first couple of miles and probably ran lazy throughout because of it. As such I didn't get up as much on my toes as I should have done. It didn't seem a problem at the time though.

Thursday didn't go as well. I'd been in London at college all week which as usual had bothered my calf, combined with Tuesday's lazyness it caused issues. I decided to stop at 2 and a half miles as my calf was painful and I didn't want to risk injuring it long term. I also took the weekend off to make sure it could recover, and because I was really busy.

On the 12th I got back on the treadmill and did a really gentle 3 miles running at just under 10 minute miles. The calf twinged a little but then I have still been in London so that's not really surprising. It seems like with a bit of care I should be fine to continue with the plan, though I'm going to take the speed on the treadmill down to about 7 mph for the rest of the first phase of the plan.

3 November 2013 -

Having failed to go the full distance the previous weekend, I was once again aiming to go 18 miles. I was originally going to cross the fields and then head north on the Down's link to see how far I could get. Unfortunately a neighbour's fence had fallen across the path, so instead I headed to Itchingfield and then south on the Down's link from Christ's.

Having learnt on Thursday that things go better when I don't look at the watch too often I just went off and ran. The only time I remember looking at the watch was when it was showing a time a little over 10 minutes, leading me to speed up to try and get it down. This quickly lead to it showing sub-6:30, so I forgot about that and just got on with what I was doing. I felt good through out the first 12 miles, and then realising I had less than a 10k and was under goal target pace for the marathon picked me up even more.

Unfortunately this only lasted for a couple of miles, and as I came out of Southwater I started to struggle. This seems to happen quite often at around this point, though whether because it's usually around 15 miles or because of something else in that area. To get through it I broke up the remainder into three sections, one from Southwater to Christ's, the next from Christ's to Itchingfield and then Itchingfield home.

The first two went surprisingly well, and coming off the top of the hill into Itchingfield was a wonderful experience if only because it was easier on the flat than the slope as it took pressure off my hamstrings, which were consistently achy by this stage. Unfortunately the last section never happened.

This is arguably the hardest, from the hill at the bottom of Itchingfield church garden it goes up and over a ridge in woodland and then up a steady climb, and frankly I couldn't be bothered so I stopped behind the church. 17 and a half is close enough right?

Overall I was actually really pleased with the run, I just switched my brain off as much as possible and let my legs do the talking. It turns out they were loud enough, and I was really pleased with the result.

Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Distance: 17.67 miles
Pace: 07:58 min/mile
Average heart rate: 177 bpm
Map: Here

31 October 2013 - Forgetting the monitor

Easy running is for recovery.

After trying repeatedly to keep my heart rate down below 165 bpm I've given up. I've reprogrammed all these runs to be marathon pace, and upped some target heart rates. Hopefully this will give me enough room to actually get some work done.

The main effect on Thursday's run was that I looked at the watch a lot less and hit a sustainable pace that I could just relax with. This made the treadmill run, something that's always bored me, a bit more bearable. This was also the first time I did six miles (and having changed over the treadmill setting it was in miles).

Job done.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 51 minutes 18s
Pace: 8:33 mins/mile

29 October 2013 - Unplanned progression run

First of all I have to apologise for lying in my last post. I said I did a 28 mile week, but actually it was only 26, sorry.

Anyway, the plan for Tuesdays run was 6 miles easy, but by the time I got on the treadmill I'd cut that down to 8km (5 miles). I did the first km at 9km/h, the next at 10 and then settled at 10.5, as that put my heart rate at about the right place. Unfortunately during this time I got bored, and so figured I would go for a bit at the end.

So at 2km I put it up to 11.5km/h and then up by another km/h each half click, finishing at 14.5km/h (6:40 min/mile). The finishing pace was hard but not unbearable, and it gave me something to look forward to in an otherwise boring run. Definitely motivation I'll use in future.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 44 minutes 45 seconds
Pace: 8:57 min/mile

26 October 2013 - Turning the dial to 18

This was supposed to be my first eighteen miler of the winter season, though by no means the last. I was up in Cambridge and due to timings ended up running Saturday morning. As such I'd only had 36 hours rest since Thursday's six miles, and due to the travelling hadn't eaten a full dinner the Friday evening.

Despite this I had a couple of gels and two litres of water on my back and so I entered full of optimism, planning to head out to Milton along the river for nine miles and then back along the same way. As per usual I went off far too hard, only about 7:45 but too much for a run that long. This wasn't the machoism of the previous weekend, I just couldn't keep myself under control despite feeling fairly laboured throughout.

Eventually I settled somewhat, and went on my merry way, heart rate at 180ish. I passed over a nice bridge somewhere near milton, exposing me to the wind that was already starting to build in advance of the storm to come a couple of days later.

At 7 and a half miles I turned back home, still trying to get the pace and heart rate down. I took my second gel at 11 miles, though managed to spill most of it down myself, badly enough washing my hands in cam water seemed a good idea. As I got closer to home I started to struggle, especially when the head wind hit, but seeing crews I knew on the river helped to pick me up and propel me back to the boat house.

Unfortunately when I got there I had only run 14 and a half miles but felt like I should be stopping. I motivated myself to head back up the river a bit, but with no clear idea where I wanted to head I lost a lot of motivation, and essentially ground to a halt at 16 miles.

Overall I wasn't too disappointed. Though this run wasn't as long as planned this was still my longest week for a while with a total of 28 miles. The pace and heart rate both need some work, but I'm getting there and it didn't leave me too broken the rest of the weekend. I need to make sure I eat well the evening before runs in future though to fuel the engine better.

Time: 2 hours 17 minutes
Distance: 16.08 miles
Pace: 08:33 min/mile
Heart rate: 177 bpm

22 & 24 October - getting back to the plan

The last couple of weeks I've strayed from the plan I set out after Barns green due to a combination of being busy and not paying attention. Last week I was supposed to do two 5 mile runs during the week and then an 18 at the weekend. However I only did a four and a thirteen, so instead I called that my rest week and I'm going to do last weeks plan this week, got that?

The other slight complication is that the new treadmill is set to kilometres. So instead of two 5 mile runs I've done two eight kilometre runs. I figure that's close enough. In the first one I set off at twelve kilometres per hour but had to slow down over the first section to get heart rate under control. Eventually I got as low as nine, before building back to ten km/hr. Total time was 46 minutes 5 seconds, averaging about 9:10/mile.

The second time I started at ten minutes per km, then increased to 10.5 after 2km, and then 11 at half way. This heart rate was much more under control, and at the end was still below 170 bpm. Thursday is usually easier than Tuesday due to the long run being further behind, but starting slower helped too. Total time was 44:53, a small improvement and bringing the average pace under 9 minutes per mile. Average heart rate was also lower at 157 bpm rather than 164 for the first run.

20 October 2013 - Split Run

Apologies for the lack of posts this week, I've been in London at college and so by the time I'd got home and done my work I was generally too tired to run or write. I did manage to do one four mile run on the treadmill on Thursday, once again at 7.5 mph. I also spent an hour in the pool on Saturday, but Sunday is the run I really want to write about.

The plan was to go out and do an easy 18 miles. I set off along my usual route but the running wasn't right and I felt terrible. I was trying to do eight minute miles, but it just wasn't happening. I kept around 8:30's but this really wasn't easy running. It did start to feel better at about three miles, and the pace came down to about 8:10 though the heart rate continued at around 180 bpm, well above the 165 it should have been at.

Then as I left Southwater to head out along the Down's link the heavens opened and the rain started to pour down. This wasn't the soaking rain of last week but big heavy drops that pounded down. I carried on to the underpass where I hid away for a time. I kept marching up and down and doing some light stretching to try and keep warm as well as taking a gel.

When the rain finally abated I headed home, taking the shortest route available in case it rained again. The way home felt better but I was still trying to force it to reach 8 minute miles and because of that my heart rate was high and it felt like hard work. This overworking throughout the run meant that I ended up walking up the slope home because frankly I couldn't be bothered to jog.

I ended up completing 9.5 miles with an average pace of 8:28, and though the average heart rate shows 169 this is definitely skewed downwards by the rest under the bridge, and realistically is more like 180.

Due to having had a new treadmill delivered on Friday this wasn't the end though, and with a quick change of top into something dry I got on to do another 6 km's (3.7 miles). I started off at 12 km/h, the equivalent of the 7.5 mph I usually run on the treadmill, with an incline of 3% (which supposedly makes the effort equivalent to running outside). However the break gave me the opportunity to re-assess what I was doing and focus on running to heart rate.

As this was initially way over where it should be, similar to when I was out on the road, over the first couple of kilometers the pace came down to 9 km/h and the incline to zero. This actually got the heart rate under control at 165ish, and though I still fiddled a bit either way this was about the pace I finished at.

I had decided in the previous weeks that I want to run a 3:30 marathon in Brighton next weekend, equivalent to 8 minutes per mile. Before announcing that out loud I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it by running that pace throughout today’s 18. The fact is that my legs and lungs weren’t up to it, still carrying last weekend’s race as well as the journeys to London. The marathon is still six months away, and that gives me plenty of time to get to where I want to be. I just need to make the most of every run by training to my heart rate.

Part 1

Distance: 9.48 miles

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Pace: 08:28 min/mile

Heart rate: 169 bpm

Part 2

Distance: 3.7 miles

Speed: ~6mph

Map: Here