Steady miles

15M - double; recovery & general aerobic runs & exercises
5M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack
10M pm general aerobic run at ~6.15min/M
Core strength exercises (six cycles)

Just some easier running today. Plus my day job. My legs feel pretty good after yesterday's long run. Thanks in part to my massage I should think. No niggles still.

I managed some core strength work too before heading out for the evening.

My last long run... and starting to focus on race day

18M long run at 6.15min/M (0-6M), 5.50 (6-12M) & 5.30 (12-18M)

This is my last long run before the marathon. And like my last one, it was a real confidence booster. I've had 2 hard days in the last 3 (a race and a long rep session), but my days off have let me put my feet up and I felt fresh. The two hour bath I had yesterday also helped.

I accidentally hit 6.15min/M for the first segment despite taking in three ascents of the Brockwell Park hill. I think I was a bit eager having been reading the 'mental approach to the marathon' section of Lore of Running. I also watched Paula breaking her world record on youtube.

Anyway, I thought I was cooling it a bit for the 2nd segment... repeating the Nerurkar mantra 'train don't strain', but still ran 5 secs a mile faster than planned. 5.50 now feels easy as soon as I change my form to lean a little forward onto my toes. No real pushing required to sustain the speed, just an adjustment of style.

I refuelled on Lucozade during my 2nd stint and then upped my pace for the third. I hit and held 5.30 without going crazy, trying to focus on my form and thinking about what I'll have in my head on race day. Some little mantras. To the rhythm 1-2-3-4. For the last 6 miles. I'm looking forward to them you know. While I can't properly remember them in last year's race, those last 6 miles also left a deep impression on me. And the 4000 odd miles I'll have run since then have all been aimed at getting to 20 and then running the race of my life.

These last three days at home running, relaxing and beginning to think about the race properly have been really useful.

Long reps

15M - double; recovery run & 1 and 2 mile rep session
5M am recovery run at ~6.30min/M
10M pm long rep session incl 2x2M at 5.12-5.15min/M & 1M at 5.08min/M

I altered my plan a bit today to accommodate my planned long run tomorrow. I was going to do a tempo session, but wanted not to destroy my legs. Having said that, this was a pretty solid session and left me with a bit of a lactate headache. I think my legs are not 100% fresh again after last week's exertions. I hit two 2 mile reps hardish at just under 5.15min/M and then one mile at 5.08, with a mile recovery at 7.00 between them.

Sourdough pizza at Franco Manca afterwards was pretty fantastic (a number 5 with capers, olives and anchovies). My stomach was not quite up to extending my stay in the market long enough to enjoy a flat white, Anzac biscuit or perhaps a cinnamon and plum friand at the peerless Federation coffee. Tomorrow maybe.

I'm going to jump in a restorative bath now.

A DAY OFF (but not off running)

15M - double; recovery & general aerobic runs & exercises
5M am recovery run at ~7.45min/M
Core strength exercises (six cycles)
10M pm general aerobic run at ~6.30min/M

I've taken three days off work this week to run and rest! I was inspired by a comment in Richard Nerurkar's marathon training book that encourages you to treat yourself like a proper athlete once in a while... And I've got a stack of leave that I hadn't got round to taking.

I spent the day largely with my weight off my feet between my runs. I felt surprisingly sprightly this morning after yesterday's race. And I should be well recovered for tomorrow's session.

I'm looking forward to two more days of this. And I've booked a sports massage for Wednesday afternoon as an additional treat.

I've also got three days off in the week before the marathon.

Summary of week ending 27/03/2011

Mon 21/3 - 13M double; 5M recovery & 8M gen aerobic & exercises
Tue 22/3 - 21M double; 5M recovery & 16M incle 5x1M (4.58-5.02) & 1x2M (5.15)
Wed 23/3 - 15M double; 5M recovery & 10M gen aerobic (5.45-6.30)
Thu 24/3 - 22M long run at 6.20 (0-7), 6.00 (7-14) & 5.30 (14-22)
Fri 25/3 - 15M double; 5M recovery & 10M gen aerobic runs
Sat 26/3 - 5M recovery run at 8.15min/M
Sun 27/3 - 11M incl 5M at 5.15min/M and 3M at 5.19min/M
TOTAL - 102M

Good tempo at the Southern 12 stage relay

11M incl 5M at 5.15min/M and 3M at 5.19min/M

We came 2nd in the Southern 12 Stage Road Relay. A cracking team performance! Great team support was key. Silver medals and bottles of wine all round.

I went out a bit hard on my (5 mile) leg for the A team probably (5.05 pace), though I managed similar for the first 10K last week. This time I ended up slowing to 5.15min/M. I guess Thursday's long run was a factor. But still, it was a good tempo workout.

I then ran a second (shorter, 3 mile) leg at closer to marathon pace (5.19min/M). It felt pretty comfortable. I think my main issue is my threshold pace, though I seem to be able to sustain close to my threshold for a fair distance. Which is good for the marathon I guess.

Three weeks to go...

A very gentle day

5M at ~8.15min/M

Just a really gentle one around Brockwell Park with Yasmin this morning. Met an Ethiopian athlete who's a 65 min half marathon runner doing some stretches.

South of England 12 stage relays tomorrow... legs looking forward to some speed.

Another steady day

15M - recovery run & general aerobic run
5M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack
10M pm general aerobic run at ~6.15min/M

Just some relatively easy miles today. I feel pretty good. And have no niggles. Long may it continue (well at least for the next 3 and a half weeks please).

One of my best days

22M long run at 6.20 (0-7), 6.00 (7-14) and 5.30 (14-22)

This was my best long run by some way. It's also my last one over 20 before the marathon, so it's well timed confidence-wise. I feel I have speed in my legs again. I found it relatively comfortable over the last segment and could have given it more... but held back to save me for some good racing at the weekend (and probably pushing it wouldn't have given much more benefit anyway).

On top of it being a good long run, I was pleased that I managed to make it a half good one given that it was an evening session. I've struggled with evening long runs food/stomach-wise previously. But an enormous bread-based breakfast followed by a Yazoo and banana lunch did the trick. Fuelling during the run worked well too - Lucozade and gels.

A steadier day

15M - double; recovery & general aerobic runs
5M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M
10M pm general aerobic run at 5.45-6.30min/M

I was pretty tired after yesterday's speed work, so my pace on the evening run was pretty gentle today. Probably wise. I have a longer run planned for tomorrow. Having said that my legs were tired, they felt strangely speedy. Just a bit empty. Or hollow. Or something.

Good miles

21M - double; recovery run & mile rep session
5M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M with pack
16M pm mile rep session incl 4x1M at 4.58-5.02 off 90s and 1x2M at 5.10

My legs felt atrocious this morning. Though half of that was the minimal sleep I had had (thanks to a very late night, writing a presentation for work).

But, come evening time, my legs were feeling perky and the mile reps were good. I kept the pace pretty even and added a fifth, longer (2 mile) effort on the way home. A good day. I feel I'm gaining speed.

Post-race recovery

13M - double; recovery run x2 & core strength exercises
5M am recovery run at ~7.00min/M with pack
8M pm recovery run at 6.45min/M
Core strength exercises (six cycles)

My legs were heavy today after yesterday's race. No specific niggles. Just heavy. Which is fine. Hopefully they'll be feeling more perky for some mile reps tomorrow.

I managed a bit of core strength exercise at the end of the day. Six cycles, missing out the squats again.

Summary of week ending 20/03/2011

Mon 14/3 - 12M double; 5.5 & 6.5M recovery runs at 7.45min/M (1300-1500m)
Tue 15/3 - 19M double; 4M recovery & 15M tempo (at 6.15 on treadmill at 1850m)
Wed 16/3 - 14M double; 5.5M recovery & 8.5M gen aerobic (1300-1500m)
Thu 17/3 - 13M double; 5M recov & 7M incl 3x1M at 5.30 on treadmill at 1850m)
Fri 18/3 - 14M double; 4M recovery & 10M gen aerobic (1300-1500m)
Sat 19/3 - 12M general aerobic run at 7.15min/M (treadmill at 1850m)
Sun 20/3 - 24M double; Reading Half Marathon (69.17) & 10M recovery
TOTAL - 108M

Another (kind of disappointing) kind of PB

24M double; half marathon race & general aerobic run
14M am incl Reading Half Marathon in 69.17 (28th)
10M pm general aerobic run at ~6.30min/M

I should probably be really pleased with today's result: it has been a hard week... 100+ hilly miles at altitude (not to mention skiing). Bit I was hoping to crack the 69 minute barrier. I even thought I would until the last mile - which was up hill just before entering the stadium. I set out at 68 minute pace and held it there until the last of the hills at 7-8 miles (having gone through 10K in 31.59 - a PB of sorts in itself). But I didn't fade much after that and only lost a couple of places after half way.

I had a great post-race massage again. And reaped the benefits on my surprisingly loose and relaxed-feeling evening run.

I'll focus on more tempo running (and one long run) this week.

12 easy miles

12M general aerobic run at 7.15min/M

Just an easy-paced 12 miler on the Les Menuires treadmill today. Felt nice. Race tomorrow...

More steady miles in the mountains

14M - double; recovery run & fast and slow run
4M am recovery run at 7.45min/M (hilly at 1600m)
10M pm fast and slow average 7.00min/M (hilly at 1600m)

A more average day. The afternoon run was up and down hill, meaning that the changes in effort were mainly dictated by the incline. My legs feel good. No niggles. Calf fine after yesterday's false alarm. Slow run tomorrow in readiness for the Reading Half Marathon.

Some faster miles on the treadmill

13M - double; recovery run & fast and slow session
5M am recovery run at ~7.30min/M (hills)
7M pm mile reps - fast (5.30min/M) & slow (7.00) at 1850m altitude on treadmill
Core strength exercises (two cycles)

I had a good but slightly curtailed fast & slow mile session on the treadmill at Les Menuires (1850m) this evening. I wondered if I could feel a spasm at the top of my left calf, so I cut it a bit short. As it happened, it was a false alarm and felt fine on a gentle jog later. But best to be careful, and I'd already put in three good fast miles. Pretty speedy when corrected for altitude I think. I managed not to fall off the back of the treadmill, which is always a victory.

Running the marathon for Great Ormond Street

I'm running the marathon for Great Ormond Street this year.

Well, yes, ok, as a reader of this page, you will be aware that I'm running the marathon because I'm a freak and I want to.

But I should harness my idiosyncrasies and raise some money while I'm at it shouldn't I?

So, if you wanted to sponsor me, I'd be greatly chuffed. You can donate using my justgiving webpage (click here).

Steady miles in the mountains

14M - double; recovery run & general aerobic run
5.5M am recovery run at 8.15min/M (hilly)
8.5M pm general aerobic run at 7.00min/M (hilly)

A slightly easier day today. Another exploratory morning run - very gentle. Heart rate ~140bpm.

The evening run was 8.5M rather than the 10 planned to compensate for yesterday's longer run, but was a goodish pace in the hills and was divided into alternating 1-2M segments of up and down hill, meaning the effort also alternated. Forgot my heart rate monitor, which seems the best way to judge things round here.

A longish tempo on the treadmill

19M - double; recovery run & medium long tempo run
4M am recovery run at 8.10min/M
15M pm tempo run at 6.15min/M (on treadmill at 1850m altitude; HR 170-175bpm)

I did a very gentle exploratory run on the roads again this morning. Shorter this time, but enough to work out where I should go on future runs.

But the real deal today was a really good tempo run on a treadmill in the gym at Les Menuires. I'm not sure how to convert the speed to a sea level time, but my heart rate monitor told me I was hovering around 170-175bpm (slowly climbing), which is only a bit below to my race profile. It certainly felt solid. And now, a couple of hours down the line, I can feel the post effort headache and leg ache.

I've spent the rest of the day rehydrating, refuelling and lazing on the sofa. All very good.

12 easier miles

12M - double; recovery run x2
5.5M am recovery run at 7.45min/M
6.5M pm recovery run at 7.45min/M

After yesterday's hard one, I took it easy today. Though in the hills, even 7.45min/M hurts at times. Looking on mapmyrun, yesterday's mile reps included about 60m of ascent and finished with an 8% incline over the last couple of hundred metres.

Today's was a slow run, but included 220m of climb.

Summary of week end 13/03/2011

Mon 7/3 - 12M double; 6M recovery runs x2 at 6.30 & 6.45min/M & exercises
Tue 8/3 - 17M double; 5M recovery & 12M speed incl 5x1M at 3.03-3.08 off 90s
Wed 9/3 - 17M double; 5M recovery & 12M gen aerobic at 6.00min/M
Thu 10/3 - 20M long run at ~6.20min/M
Fri 11/3 - 15M double; 5M recovery & 10M tempo run at 5.30-5.20min/M
Sat 12/3 - core strength exercises
Sun 13/3 - 15M double; 5M recovery & 10M 1M hill reps at 5.33-5.38min/M
TOTAL - 96M

Fast miles at altitude!

15M - double; recovery run & mile rep session
5M am recovery run at ~7.30min/M
10M pm alternating fast (5.33-5.38min/M) and slow (7.00min/M) miles - with hill

I'm in the Alps! I was thinking that I would only be able to run on a treadmill this week, but now I'm here, I find 1) the roads are clear of snow and 2) the nearest treadmill is a 15min drive away. So I thought I'd give the road a go.

I did a little reconnoiter this morning to establish my surroundings and the best plan for this evening.

The evening session was a 'fast and slow' miles session. The lie of the land meant that the fast miles were HARD - mainly up hill and harder because of the altitude (I guess - 1300m). But I hit good speeds and felt good. My slow miles were slower as a result. But the session worked well as a whole and I was dead by the end. Good fun.

Just some exercises

Core strength exercises (six cycles; ~50mins)

Just some core strength exercises today - I'm off on holiday, so no time for running. And a rest after a couple of hard days will set me up for a good longish tempo run on Sunday... probably on the treadmill.

I did six cycles of the same exercises as Monday other than missing out the squats. This was Ron's suggestion - we wondered if the squats contributed to my hip injury in the autumn, and it would be stupid to let that happen again so close to the marathon.

A good tempo (with belly ache)

15M - double; recovery run & tempo run
5M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack
10M pm tempo run at 5.30 (0-5) and 5.20min/M (5-10); no pack

I'm going to do my evening runs packless from now. I think my pack has been making runs like this evening's harder to really push on and I think it has been detracting from my training.

I felt pretty good during the day despite last night's belly ache, but it came back after a couple of miles at 5.30 pace. Not as bad as yesterday, but pretty irritating nonetheless. And definitely slowing. I still managed a pretty good session though.

And my stomach obviously wasn't that bad, as I managed to squeeze in an appetising plate of lamb sweetmeats followed by a steak at 32 Great Queen Street by way of dinner and iron supplementation. I'm trying to eat a couple of slabs of red meat per week. Not sure of the nutritional benefits of lamb's testicles, but they must be considerable!

A long steady one

20M - long run at 6.20min/M

A midweek long run today. Along the river with a couple of loops of Westminster, one loop of Battersea, back to Brixton, a loop to Dulwich and then to Brixton Sainsbury's (for some ketchup for my fishy dinner).

Not too fast - which was the plan. But it was also a good thing, cos my stomach was churning like crazy and didn't enjoy itself. I was pleased to keep going to the end. Refuelling required.

17 steady miles

17M - double; recovery & general aerobic runs
12M am steady run at ~6.00min/M (no pack!)
5M pm recovery run at ~8.15min/M

A steady day between hard days. My legs had plenty of spring on my 12 miler.

Looking forward to Ron's new schedule (which I start tomorrow). More focus on tempo running. Mileage a bit lower.

Five and a half weeks to go...

Mile reps - good ones

17M - double; recovery run & speed session
5M am recovery run at ~6.45min/M with pack
12M pm speed session incl 5x1M at 5.01-5.04min/M off 90s recovery

My legs felt surprisingly full of speed today despite Sunday's Bath Half Marathon. There was a great group out at the track this evening and we put in a mile rep session. Just slower than 5 min miles with a 90 second recovery was quite pleasing in the circumstances.

I kept the session shorter than in previous weeks (when I've run easy all the way home). Want to save myself for a good long run on Thurs/Fri before heading off on holiday.

Recovery after the Bath Half

12M - double; recovery run x2 & exercises
6M am recovery run at ~6.30min/M
6M pm recovery run at ~6.45min/M
Core strength exercises (five cycles)

I'm feeling ok after yesterday's race. My quads and calves are a bit stiff now, by evening time. But I don't have any particularly sore areas. And none that'll turn into an injury (my hip problem at the end of last year came the week after the Cardiff Half).

I added in some single leg hops to my core strength exercises today. Now that each cycle is longer (seven type of exercise), I've reduced the number of cycles to five.

I feel usefully focused by yesterday's race, and keen to nail my training (and rest).

A bit of a disappointing (kind of) PB

15M incl Bath Half Marathon in 69.17 (5.17min/M; 15th place)

This was probably a PB (my Cardiff Half in 68.27 last year was on a course ~200m short). But I was still a bit disappointed. I was hoping for something closer to 67mins. I've put in some hard miles since Cardiff and feel I should be faster than I was all those months ago. And I did taper properly for this one.

Having said that, it is a PB, and it's only part of the big picture... my build up to the London Marathon. Where can I improve? I think Ron and I are agreed that my tempo running has probably suffered recently with my high mileage. I also struggle to really nail those runs when I run them with my pack on my back. I will remedy both of those.

Had a great post-race massage though.

Looking forward to getting back to proper training this week.

Rest!

No run today, ahead of the Bath Half.

Just five again

5M at ~6.15min/M

His five around the park this morning.

Just five

5M recovery run at ~8.15min/M

Just a gentle five a deux along the river to work today. Feeling good. Sore throat on its way out.

Getting ready for a half marathon

14M - double; recovery & general aerobic run (with strides)
6M am recovery run at ~6.30min/M with pack
8M pm general aerobic run at ~6.15min/M with pack incl 8x100m strides

I'm looking forward to the Bath Half Marathon this weekend. Hopefully my sore throat won't evolve into anything - I think it'll be OK, I can't really feel it this evening. It'd be a shame if I had to miss out on a good chance to get a PB (it's a fast race with a good number of people coming in under 70 minutes, so there should be a good pack to latch onto to try and get a really good time).

I added in some strides to my evening run, but nothing too strenuous.

Some speed in my legs

17M - double; recovery and general aerobic runs
5M am recovery run at ~8.30min/M with pack
12M pm general aerobic run at 6.00-6.15min/M with pack

I was back on track today (metaphorically). My evening run felt great and I had to hold myself back to keep the speed down. I had been feeling sluggish since Friday's long run, but was really full of running. I'm keeping things nice and easy though, ready for Sunday's Bath Half.