A canalside PB

Following the success at the Arden 9 mile run in June, the next step was to get back into training ready for the next challenge, the Birmingham and Black Country Half Marathon.

However, an opportunity to run the pilot event of a brand new parkrun came my way and as it was for the forthcoming new parkrun in my home town of Redditch, it would have been rude to have not gone along. So a Wednesday evening parkrun took place at Arrow Valley Park and to make the most of the miles I decided to run to the park as well. It's a great park and the route is essentially 2 laps around the lake. I enjoyed the run and managed to finish in 4th place, by far my highest ever parkrun finishing position! But when there are only 13 runners, the numbers are in my favour!

I finished the week with a 12 mile run inside my target marathon pace of 11 mins/mile. A great confidence booster ahead of the half marathon and took my mileage total for June to a massive 122 miles!

And so the half marathon day came - this is a run with a difference; it is a point to point run from Wolverhampton to Birmingham and being down a canal path the runners go off in small groups in a time trial format rather than a mass start. I started in the final group of the day with Larry and I had the intention to run a consistent pace of 10 mins/mile to achieve a new half marathon PB. The wet weather in the weeks before the race meant that the canal path was covered with puddles and had in many parts turned to mud. The conditions did make it tricky to keep momentum steady and whilst I was able to maintain my pace, I did begin to think early on that my higher energy expenditure to keep to the pace would mean that I would fade later in the race. In the end I kept inside the target pace throughout the whole run, meaning that a fabulous new PB of 2:10 was achieved. Brilliant!

The following week required a shift in my running because Sunday was dedicated to volunteering at the Tough Guy event, where people wade through mud and run through fields on fire in the name of fun! Knowing this event was on the calendar, I decided to make the most of Saturday and run back home to Redditch after parkrun!

After starting on pavements, I ended up running through 2 swampy fields, climbing gates, avoiding a sheep blocking the way on a narrow path and managed to get lost too! By the time I had arrived home after over 3.5hrs of running, my Garmin said that I had covered 18.4 miles for my longest ever run. And when this is added to the Brueton parkrun Junior Olympic Park torch relay that I did that morning (see picture below - yes, I am the runner 'in character' as a torch security officer!), it meant that my total mileage for the day was just over 20!

Hot pants make you run faster!

There may still be over 100 days to go until the Chester Marathon, but as well as doing the training - sorting out the kit is just as important. When I started running I had my gait checked so that I could buy a suitable pair of trainers. I've stuck to the same ones (subject to model changes) since that time and just started using my lastest pair this week (I had bought 2 pairs in a New Year half price sale).

However, in that time, my running style may have changed - so I decided to get to gait checked again this week and sure enough the conclusion was that my current pair are no longer the most suitable for me (my left foot anyway). So I now have another new pair of trainers - maybe if all goes well, these will become the marathon trainers! With my existing pairs a new insole is all that's needed, so they can still be used.

Whilst I was in the shop I wanted to get some more shorts. I usually do training/Winter races in long running trousers and they fit the bill well. But in Summer, they're not the best on warmer days and so the shorts come out - but chaffing is a marathon runner's enemy. Plenty of Vaseline is the usual answer, but there are other things that can be done too. I boldly tried on a new red pair of Nicaraguan compression shorts (to wear under a regular pair of shorts) with a view of wearing them at the following day's Arden 9 race. They also apparently keep thigh muscles warm so that they reduce muscle strain and fatigue - and may even enhance performance!

Bit of a risk maybe trying something new out on a race day, but I was prepared enough to take them off if need be!

The next day came and the bright red shorts went on and I have to say they worked a treat for the entire 9 mile race. The Arden 9 is full of fast club runners and is a Warwickshire League Race too, so to the likes of me, it is very competitive. On looking around at the other runners before the run, I could not find anyone who I thought would be slower than me, so fellow Marathon first timer Larry and parkrun friends Kevin and Paul headed towards the back for the start.

Off we went and at a brisk pace too before soon settling down into something more appropriate. My target for the day was to run just under 10 mins per mile to get a sub 90 minute time overall. But I felt comfortable at around a 9:15 min pace and just kept going and going, so much so I was gradually working my way up the field. An added bonus was that I ran with a water bottle; I normally do this in longer training runs anyway and I don't get on well at water stations. I struggle to take on a cup of water without virtually stopping altogether, so my pace and rhythm is disturbed and a few times the water has gone down the wrong way with unpleasant fits of coughing etc. A water bottle means I can take on water gradually and when I want it too - so when it came to the water stations I simply carried on through, overtaking people choking on their cups of water.

At around 4 miles in I caught up with runners who usually finish ahead of me and so I started to wonder whether my pace was going to get into trouble a few miles later on. On passing one improving runner, Linda Whitehead, I said to her 'just ignore me Linda, I'm going too fast! You'll catch me later on!' But I still kept going and going. At 10km my watch read a time of 57:00 (I've never even run a 10k race in this time before, so I knew I was surely going to struggle later on) and at the one hour point I had done 6.52 miles - again I had never done this distance in an hour before. Then I realised there was less than a 5k parkrun to go and hey, we've all done plenty of them, keep going, keep going! The muddy terrain around the lake slowed me a bit and the hill at 8 miles slowed me a bit too, but once that was done, I went on down the hill for a long sprint finish to the end, still passing people on the way! Final time was 81:45 on my watch, way inside the sub 90 min target time - what a great day ;-)

Triple Success!

With 15 miles as my longest run to date completed, the next Sunday was a different affair - rather than plodding around at my marathon pace, it was time for a faster paced effort at the Great Midlands Fun Run in Sutton Park. This is an 8.5 mile route on a very undulating course - you're wither going up a hill or down a hill; very little is actually flat!

A popular run with 7000 participants had a wide mixture of people - fast runners, fun runners, walkers and so on. Once the race got underway, it was a bit chaotic as the fast runners were coming through whilst walkers at the front were holding others back, but by mile 2 it was pretty much sorted out. With an undulating course I found tracking my pace more tricky, so gave up on the Garmin after a short while. Instead I opted to run the hills conserving energy going up and pushing for pace on the down. At around 6 miles there is 'cardiac hill' - not the steepest of hills, but a fairly large hill to get up. Once at the top it was nearly 2 miles downhill to the finish, so I upped the pace a bit in my quest to chase down Ruth Paulin who had been in my sight all the way from mile 4, but I couldn't get any closer. Then came along Paul Cooper who caught up with me - running togther seemed to increase my pace further and then when Paul was asking 'When do we sprint?' with less half a mile to go resulted in the sprint coming sooner rather than later - so much so that our last half mile averaged out at 7 mins/mile pace meaning that on the line I dipped to beat Ruth Paulin, sorry Ruth!

I finished in just over 1hr 20mins, nearly 5 mins quicker than my target time - so thank you Paul for a great run in to the finish and a position within the top 1500, so for someone used to being low down in the field, it was nice to be in the top 20% for a change!

Onto the next week and back to normal with a couple of 5 mile plods at around marathon pace and a fast and furious hilly 5km. Sunday saw my second attempt at a 15 mile run. Last time I included an unknown section cross country which turned out to be not that good for running on, so this time I followed a familar route out towards Ragley Hall. Target pace again was the 11 mins/mile marathon pace and the end result was fantastic - very consistent throughout the 15 miles, up and down the hills too. I did feel a bit off between miles 9 and 12, but surprisingly did not have an adverse effect on the pacing - even though at the time doubts had crept into my mind about completing the 15 miles. But I proved the doubts wrong and continued on and by mile 13 I was actually feeling the best I had the enture run - so I upped the pace slightly to the end to finish in 2hrs 43 mins (10 mins better than last time). A really good run and a confidence booster too as well as a lesson learnt: I'm sure come Chester that there will be times when I don't feel too great during the marathon, but I just have to have faith that I will get through it and can carry on to the end.

Enough about me as there is great need to refer to my co-runners at Chester, Larry Chambers and Richard Westwood. Larry has just had an incredible week where he has set new PBs for 1km, 1mile, Cooper, 3miles, 5kms, 10kms, one hour and half marathon - so the full set of PBs on Endomondo! This has all come from the result of hard work, both when he is running and when he's not running. Richard on the other hand, continues his improvement even further - as well as running great times in training, it all came together at the Llandudno 10 mile run today where he did the 10 miles in a breathtaking consistent pace averaging arounnd 8:20 mins/mile for a 1hr 23 mins time, which is simply awesome!

100 up!

Fresh from my training half marathon covered in my last post, I appear to be getting used to running a higher mileage. Normally I only run around 15 miles at most per week, so taking it to 25 miles plus per week seemed quite a task. But gradually I have added the miles bit by bit and run distances and paces that suit me. Thankfully it has tied in well with the training plan - I do my fast hilly 5k, 2 lots of 5 miles and a long run at the weekend.

And so it has continued - I didn't get the chance to run at the parkrun pacer day, but that didn't matter as the following day, Sunday, I had my first go at running a distance longer than a half marathon - 15 miles at my target marathon pace. It had been a very hot week 25C plus most days and that day was no different. I started early at 7:30 a.m. to hopefully avoid the worst of the heat. Well my run only lasted 40 metres, because weighed down by a phone and a gel as well as the front door key, my brand new shorts were weighed down a bit too much for my comfort - so a quick return home and a change into a more sturdy pair of shorts was required.

My second attempt was more successful, a lot of the run was a completely different route too, so added to the interest. It did include an unfamiliar cross country section for about 2 miles, but it turned out to be unsuitable for running and the run became a run/walk - however it was good to go somewhere new.

The heat became very noticable after only 5 miles (thankfully I had applied some sun cream suitable for runners) and by mile 11 I had run out of water. Fortunately there was a couple working in their front garden and on the first sight of me at the top of the driveway holding an empty bottle, they did their good deed for the day and refilled it with pleasure.

I completed the 15 miles and so another landmark had been reached. I continued the rest of the week as before making the final run of May the session that took me over 100 miles for the month for the first time ever! Wow!

Into June and the running continues. But first a bit of a 'break' with another stint of volunteering at Brueton parkrun over the Jubilee weekend. A few of us embraced the theme...

To add some further variation to the week's running, I took part in a local fun run at Astwood Bank. As well as the 2.5 mile fun run itself I wanted to make it into a long run so ran to and from the fun run to make a combined total of 10 miles. The weather was very wet and the fun run was not that well attended, so I think I managed to sneak into a top 10 finish!

On the Tuesday, my usual hilly 5k was replaced with my first proper attempt at a build up run. An out and back 8 mile route, with the first half just under my marathon pace of 11 mins/mile, then turn around and do the next half at 10 mins, finishing with the last two at 9:30. I had tired legs at the beginning and was not sure I would be able to up the pace, but I did and went much better than the plan too. Happy days ;-)

Half way there... if only!

After last week's Knowle fun run, this week was about getting the miles in. Tuesday was the return the usual hilly 5k run - my legs still felt a bit tired after Sunday's fun run (understandable as I really went for it at the fun run), but I still put in a very good time of just over 29 mins.

Wednesday was a 5 mile plod at around my target marathon pace and in honour of Eric, I did a simple 5 mile pyramid run on Friday: starting at my target marathon pace of 11 mins per mile, then after 1 mile switching to a 10:30 pace, then to a 10 min pace for mile three, back to 10:30 for mile 4 and the last mile at 11 miles. It went surprisingly well, I'd not done a pyramid before really, but I managed to keep very close to the required pace. Will have to do more of those.

Saturday was my 100th parkrun - no plans to run due to forthcoming long run on Sunday (see below), so I volunteered for the 79th time instead as safety cyclist; it's a great role, don't know why more people don't come forward to do it?

I'm ahead of the training plan at the moment and the longer distance runs are yet to come, but with not doing a long run last weekend and hopefully running at parkrun next weekend at the Club Day pacer hunt, this weekend was ideal for the long run. The last long run was 10 miles long, so I thought about doing my first ever training half marathon. My half marathon pace was my guideline and it went great, 11 mins per mile for the first ten miles with little variation, but then I met a steep hill (Easemore Road) and this took it out of me and a slowed to 12:20 pace - then the remainder of the run was uphill. I managed to return to the 11 mile pace for the final mile, making my total run time 2hrs 26mins. Now, given my target marathon time is 5 hrs (minus 1 second), finishing the training session with a few mins to spare on the half way mark is a big confidence boost about the preparation. I can run at my target pace for half a marathon - just got to continue this for another half marathon - gulp!

It's all in the planning

Browsing through the internet, I have seen that there are many many marathon training plans available - even some marathons have their own training plans, typically with separate plans for beginners and experienced marathon runners. There are specialist plans by experienced marathon runners and others by running magazines publications too. The Runners World website has an interesting collection of marathon training plans as they are set for a goal of a range of finishing times and indeed there is one that covers my target time of 4hrs 59 mins 59 secs (well, it's a 5 hr training plan really - but I hope that the training required for one second less would not be too different!)

My issue with training plans is that they assume quite a bit about the runner and appear to be quite rigid. Monday do this, Tuesday do that - which is fair enough in some respect, but there is a lack of flexibility to the regime. From talking to some runners I feel they get too obsessed with the plan, they don't look at the bigger picture of how they are currently feeling and what impact the training is having on them. The obsessed have a day off from training, but then feel guilty for it. For me, that seems like taking the enjoyment out of it.

I know I'm not going to follow a plan rigidly, but would benefit from an influence from a training plan; after all I am after a goal to complete the marathon and within my dream time if possible. The My Asics Plan is a good compromise - it's more dynamically driven by requiring more up front information about the runner and devises a tailored plan accordingly. Unlike the other plans I have seen, it starts off by asking for gender and age - I think that means the younger ones can get away with less training and get a bigger improvement in performance. It then asks what running I can currently do - I may be new to marathons, but I do have a few half marathons under my belt and surely that must count for something in working out what I can achieve and the level of training I can/need to do. So I declared that I can do a half marathon in 2hrs 15mins. At this point I should declare that I do have a lifetime ambition of a sub 2 hour half marathon - I've seen it done and I want one, but that's for another day (idea for a new blog? One's enough thank you!).

The plan then asks what my target time is and I duly specify 4hrs 59 mins 59 secs - it's quite satisfying that it does allow me to specify this time exactly, knowing how important it is to me!

The plan then asks how many days per week I wish to train. The minimum I could specify is 3 days - I have a lot of improvement to make here, so it just doesn't seem enough to do 3 days. I've run 4 days a week pretty happily in the past with 5 days being too much for me to recover from, so I think 4 days it will be. And with consideration to the busy lives we lead, it finally asks on which day I will have the most time to do a long run - Sunday.

I clicked the magic button and hey presto - a training plan, just for me is presented. It starts off with a week of conditioning, then a month of 'getting faster' then quite a period of running further distances, before tapering off for the big day itself.

Where I will differ from the plan is the execution of it. I can agree with the plan that Sunday is generally my long run day with the distance gradually getting longer, so that's OK for me as the plan has Monday as a rest day too. I know from experience that if I do run the next day after a long run, problems occur. I can squeeze a couple of short runs before I leave for work, but that means starting the run by 5:45 a.m.. I generally cannot do Tuesday evening, so Tuesday morning can be my hilly 5k (mentioned previously - it is tough, but I do really benefit from it - read on to find out why!). Wednesday and Friday evenings are my best bets for a 'mid-distance' 5 mile or 10k required by the plan.

As for this week's running, an opportunity for me to run at Brueton parkrun arose this week; so I grabbed it with great anticipation - my last Brueton run was in late March and although a slower one for me, was significant in that it confirmed my pain free return to running. So this time, with a few of those now famous hilly 5k's behind me, I hoped to show some improvement (maybe sub 27 mins?) and instead of starting as usual at the back, I was two thirds of the way down the huge field of 182. Off we went (still on the Winter Course) and I ran at an ambitious PB pace to start with and managed to hold on to it until lap 2's rise up to the tennis courts where it all started catching up with me - for the last 500 metres I was able to recover the pace before finishing in a confidence boosting 26:02 on my watch - only about 20 seconds off my Brueton parkrun PB. Magnificent!

My legs certainly felt the parkrun effort, so I turned Sunday into my rest day, opting to do my long run on Bank Holiday Monday. Plan was to do 10 miles. Whilst my speed is clearly returning to my shorter runs, my longer distance running is still way off - so a great opportunity to have a go at running closer to my target marathon pace (11 mins or so per mile). I haven't ever planned to run at this pace before, so I do need to get used to it. I did the first 5 miles at 10:30 - 10:45 pace and the second 5 miles at 10:45 to 11:00 pace. I did it, but certainly knew that 10 miles was my limit that day.

I did a couple more 5 mile runs during the week, before the highlight of May's running calendar, the Knowle Fun Run. It went brilliantly for me; I ran consistently and posted a time of 41:25 which is a massive 10 mins off my time from last year's time of 51:11, but sadly the course is about half a mile shorter this time (about 4.67 miles compared to 5.2 miles)!

Mud, mud, glorious mud!

April 2012 will probably go down as one of the wettest months in history and it's important to still keep running during adverse conditions - especially for me at this time, I'm still coming back from injury with a way to go and interruptions to the schedule are not welcome. So this week was an exercise in sticking with it.

Like last week, my schedule is for 4 runs a week - Tuesday is now an early morning hilly 5k; the character building run through the Headless Cross and Webheath districts of Redditch. This is a constant up and down - a kind downhill at first, but then your energy is taken away from you as the steep uphills come in succession. Then its a final 1 mile final slog uphill all the way back. The challenge is to complete the route without stopping - and that I did, with a time of 29:00 being an excellent result.

Wednesday evening was a 4 mile run in heavy rain and Friday evening was a 5 mile run in rain, leaving the worst till Sunday - the finale of the Centurion Grand Prix. This is a monthly 5 mile run around Babbs Mill from November to April. Today was the worst of the lot - the rain had turned sections of the route into mud and water had collected into various ponds too with some having no route around. The wind was strong and the rain was still coming down too. Skipping around everything in a tentative manner at first bacame a waste of time, my feet were wet through anyway and so I eventually ploughed through everything to record my slowest time of the season - I'm not worrying about times, it's not important.