Can I change to the half please?

Dear Mr Bedford,
Please would you transfer my place in the FLM to the FLHM as I feel it would suit me better
Thanks
Beanz
later.....

Oh there ISN'T a half marathon on the same day? - well, I'll just have to try and run the whole way then ..


Seem to be recovering from the cold - and not feeling so miserable and tearful

However not sure about the running .....

Time for a long slow plod - 3 hours is due

mrbeanz was not going my way so it was an out and back, rather than the drop off and run back

So I ran out for 1½ hours and back.

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	13:37	132	warming up downhill
2	13:20	136
3	13:15	135
4	13:17	137
5	13:35	137	try a gel - yuck
6	13:47	135
7	14:11	134
8	13:30	133	buy a lucozade
9	13:33	138
10	13:41	135
11	14:16	135
12	15:30	130	heart OK legs struggling
13	15:23	127	this hill doesn't get easier!
13.21	17:16	119	13:58 AHR 134

I have to say the prosepct of doing as much again daunts me at the moment - maybe I have to think about going a little slower - but then I'd be on my feet even longer!

The first 10 miles were done in 2:15:49 which is 13:35 rate - I need to do 13:45 rate for a 6 hour marathon - so ... without th ehills maybe I can keep goin on my run a mile make up the difference mode which I used today based on 14 mm - and ended up (including the slow stuff ) with 13:58 mm.

Hey Ho

plodding in the park

I should have been doing a long slow run with Pixie today but we decided earlier in the week that the lurgy meant this was not a good idea

I plan to do the run on Monday, so I wanted a little plod today to see whether that is likely

So after a lie in and a cup of tea in bed (thanks mrbeanz) it was up and out to the park -with its undulations
But this was not about speed just about getting out there.

And off I went, realising after a mile or so that I was very hungry - this running before breakfast is all very well when I run at 6.30 but after a lie in it means 13 hours since I last ate!

Anyway 2.5 miles done, some of it walking up the steep bits but it was good to be out there and I wondered why I don't just get out there every day for a few miles instead of up the main road - oh, I remember it's those hills:

What impresses me about this is the accuracy of the plot - this is from memory-map and the symmetry of the elevations on teh out and back bits are pretty good.

oh, and it also shows there isn't much flat stuff around here!

so it's true then

I am doing the London marathon - at least the mag has arrived this morning so I must be


but I feel blobby and stuffed up with cold


and difficulty in concentrating on anything

and I should be working

bleurgh


and I am finding it hard to believe that 3 hours is long enough for long runs for a 6 hour marathoner

and anyway I haven't done many long runs at all - in the past 6 weeks just a 2 hours, a 2½ hours and a 3¼ hours otherwise piffling things

and it's no good saying you've done a marathon so you know you can do it - I don't have any doubt that I will get round, but if I don't make a better fist of it than last time I will have wasted the last three months in not loosing weight and not training properly


bleurgh ....................

I've got a cold - or is it manflu?

I am all stuffed up with a cold - but I don't do colds so its a bit of a shock to the system

I think it must be a result of getting over tired with all teh rushing around - and not taking the cod liver oil, vitamin C etc

Not gone to my chest yet so I will be off to the club tonight to plod.

A week at home with time to run I cannot afford to miss the chance for proper plods.

Later
Teenebanz wanted to go to the club again, so we went, and I did run - there was a very cold wind - in our faces as we went up the hill, so a tough start, a bit slower than last week, but I survived

what: club run 3.5 miles
time: 46:56
pace: 13:23
AHR: 143

better

managed to get to the gym this morning before catching the train

focused on the tready and keeping going - usually the toxic twenty gets to me, and I dip out but I was determined to stay with it and do some work

so took the speed up in 0.1 km/hr notches until my HR was up above 75% and then came down again ...and up again ... until 5 km done

then a mile or so walk in each direction in London - where the sun was shining

and home at last

Peterborough tomorrow and then home for the rest of the week

phew ..

worn out

absolutely shattered - did nto run this morning

its all a bit of a struggle


and a meeting in London tomorrow - will try to go and plod on the tready at the gym first

running away

away rather a lot at the moment, so having to fit running in when I can

Wednesday
Club night and teenbeanz came too :>))

I had expected that the girls I took out last week woudl be there but they weren't so a chance to go out with the other 'slow group' who drag me a long at a faster pace than I would do on my own - and prove to me that I can run a bit faster than feels comfortable!

This week the group is MV69 (most recent half marathon 2:30 but used to be much quicker) and a lady who sprinted as a school girl and only just getting back into running and loving it - call her ex lady sprinter XLS - she goes off quicker than me but each time we go a bit further with us she is running into the unknown, so at the moment I have the edge in endurance if not pace! Off we set, XLS at the front MV69 chatting away and me chugging at the back - wishing I had done some warm up before we started. MV69 congratulates me on the fact that I am getting quicker thanks to going out with them, which is true, but I do wonder whether he thinks I don't run from one week to the next!

After the usual toxic twenty I am beginning to enjoy it and keeping up with XLS much better - I think she is beginning to struggle once we get past about 2.5 miles, but we all keep going with no stopping - even the traffic lights don't allow a breather!

As we come into the home straight we pick up one of the quicker men who is warming down - so he drags us back rather quickly. I had planned to run a bit past the club to take me up to 4 miles but was rather out of breath and teenbeanz was just coming in so I called it a day.

what: club run 3.6 miles
time: 46:52
pace: 12:56
AHR: 145

No hanging around tonight, I took teenbeanz home and then had to drive to Peterborough for a three day meeting with an early start in the morning.

Oh and teenbeanz had a good run too - not too fast for him as a mid week run,but a good way of getting a long easy in to his week.

Thursday
Up early in Peterborough for a recovery run. I do wish they woudl send us to the same hotels more than once - yet again a different hotel and I have to suss out a run. I had printed off a bit of the OS from multimap and reckoned I could use a cycle track.

And out I went - heavy legs after last night, but it was good to be out in the fresh air and not cold at all. I soon foudn the cycle route and it was rather good - through a wood, but open enough to feel safe and a soft bit alongside the tarmacced path - presumably for horses, but good to run on to as it was mostly sandy rather than muddy. I saw a few dog walkers, cyclists and just one other runner - a rather fast lady.

Plodding at recovery HR meant a very slow plod, but good to be out.

what: recovery 2.6 miles
time: 36:49
pace: 14:26
AHR: 129

Friday
Did not run - had not slept well, anxious about the days ahead. As it turns out I probably should have run as my anxiety turned into stress and a not good day.
Resolved to have an early night and run on Saturday - so eat in my room - did not need the company.

Saturday
Up early to run, a light drizzle, but hey we don't mind running in the rain and snow is forecast!!

Started on the same route as Thursday, but took and option of a change in direction, and onto a muddy path by the river. A colleague had told me he had crossed the river in the village near the hotel, so I thought 'I must be abel to get back across the river later'. As I plodded further and there is no sign of anything but fields and woods, I thought 'at what point should I decide to turn back and retrace my steps?'

And then I cam to sluice gates and the feed to the canal - now I had river AND canal between me and my target! But soon there were bridges and all was well.

I must look at the OS to see where I went!

I felt SO much better for the plod - must do this more often. And get some off-road shoes for the mud.

what: steady 3.4 miles
time: 47:42
pace: 13:51
AHR: 138


At last I am home again.

Teenbeanz is off to race tomorrow, Fradley 10k - weather permitting, I plan a 1:30 plod.

a longer run at last

Sunday
Club hosting the last of the Sunday league XC runs today, so teenbeanz and I went down to marshall. I took the camera as it was a beautiful snowy morning. Failed to take any pics inthe park or of the race, but sad physicist that I am I had to take this one of the 'frost shadow'.



Monday
I haven't done anything longer than 6 miles for a month, and most of the runs in the last month have been around 3 miles as I have had to squeez them in before work.

So it was time to just get out there and do it.

So a 2:30 run was on the schedule so @ 14 mm that was about 11 miles, so I got up very earl;y for porridge and then was ready to go out with MrBeanz when he went to work - dropping me off just under 11 miles from home meant I HAD to run home. After the usual warm up 20 minutes and plenty of stretching it felt good and the planned 14 mm were not materialising - trying to keep my HR at 135-145, which is reasonably comfortable, I was running rather quicker than I expected. Ah well, I seem to be getting fitter at last!

So the numbers:

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	13:11	137
2	13:23	138
3	12:33	140
4	12:44	140
5	13:05	139
6	12:43	141
7	12:37	138
8	12:41	137
9	12:57	135
10	13:29	139	start of killer hill
11	16:12	128	walked most of this mile
11	13:14	137	2:25:45

I have not done that pace on a long run before, so wonder whether I was going too fast? The elevation looked like this :

Perhaps not as undulating as my other recent long runs over this route:

see what I mean about undulating and killer hill?

and the average paces for those were :

14 miles at 13:53 AHR 134

9 miles at 13:36 and AHR 135

Perhaps I am getting fitter if I can run for longer and faster at a slightly higher HR?

Doh!

Friday
Currently working in Coventry.
Up early this morning to run. Kit on ready to go - but no shoes :-(
How stupid can I be?

Had my new copy of RW in my bag and lo and behold - there's a running shop 10 minutes away (actually the ad. says 2 minutes but that must be at 3 a.m.)

A phone call confirmed that they have Asics 2110s in my size, so I sneak off at lunch time and buy them. Well you can never have too many running shoes can you?

Unfortunately I couldn't take advantage of the lovely day to run, as the meeting ran on until very late.

But I will be up in the morning to run before work.

later on Saturday ......

I managed to get up and run at 6.30 - very frosty and not much time as we wanted to start the meeting early so we could all get home at a reasonable time.

2.3 miles done and arrived back with a frosty hat and gilet!

But I felt soo much better for it - and a colleague told me he could tell I had run because I was much more relaxed and less inclined to crabbiness!!!

Its the club home XC race tomorrow so teenbeanz and I will go and marshall - he isn't a member and I am not running XC - yet.

It would be nice to jog down there and back, but that would mean standing around for an hour or two in just running kit and getting cold, so will go out and run first.

great club running!

how could I have thought of not keeping going to my club?

great run this evening

arrived to find one of the fast ladies had brought her teenage daughter and friend to run - TD has asthma and consultant has suggested that running would help, so please could she plod round with me?

Of course a real pleasure - wasn't in my plan but that doesn't matter

It turned out really well

a couple of the other slower ladies were there and one wanted to do one lap of the 2 mile course, the other to do two

so we set off together and TD and friend and I did a run walk - ie we ran for a minute, then we walked briskly til TD had a enough breath to gossip, then we ran for a minute then ... for 2 miles, the girls went to sit in the warm until Mum had finished and I went and did a speedier 2 miles

So I had done a proper warm up instead of zooming off too fast and having tight calves and the second lap was the fastest I've ever done it - a real result!

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	14:11	130	downhill
2	14:38	131	back up
3	12:22	147	down again
4	12:25	153	up again - keeping each other from walking!
4.20	13:24	140	53:50

flying visit ....

Back from Cambridge this evening and off to Coventry on Thursday (via Aldi!!)

so what's been going on

Saturday
National XC Champs - Parliament Hill
Up at 6.00 to make sandwiches, get it all together and get teenbeanz organised
Off on the Club coach to London - a good bus full mostly teenagers and a few parents
Arrive in time for a good wander round before the first race
It's a glorious day, blue sky, scudding clouds and a cold northerly wind - not too bad if you are wrapped up well - a bit chilly when you are down to your vest and shorts to run!

I've never been here before and there are fantastic views across the London skyline.

Teenbeanz ran in the Under 17 race - 5 from the club first 4 to count. I saw them off at the start and then was walking over to cheer themon their first lap when one of them appeaed walking back to the club tent - a cold and asthma had got the better of him - so now teenbeanz would count! As he came in for the last ¼ mile there were runners behind him and I told him he was not counting - it gave him an extra impetus to keep going. And he finished well, with several behind; a definite improvement on last year - up an age group and further up the field :>)))

Down to the registration tent to look for the runners from my other club - Tigerrunner is snotty and hasn't come, so I go to meet the others and sort out numbers etc. They all turn up and we have a natter.

Now it's the men's race and I go down to the start to collect their warm gear and then we cheer them on - an awesome sight - over 1000 men charging up the hill!

At teh end of the races there is pub food before we go home - and very welcome after stanidn gup and walking all day. I had switched my garmin on in my rucksack at the start of the day and find I have walked a little over 6 miles during the day.

Sunday
Up early again to be in Cambridge for a 9.00 am meeting - a smooth journey wihtout incident i am in plenty of time.

The meeting goes on until after lunch and then I check in to the hotel. I plan to put my feet up for a while and then go for a plod - 3 hours later I wake up and its getting dark. And I don't plod :<( But I needed the sleep.

A good friend turns up for tomorrow's meeting so we go out for a drink and a bite to eat - so much better thanlast week's room serivce very night.

Monday
Up for a plod - hooray! It takes 20 minutes to start enjoying it but then I do and 3.2 miles done at 70-75% HR

Tuesday
Up early but decide to do the core strength stuff instead of plodding - and am surprised to discover that if I do it properly - strength and stretch it takes nearly 45 minutes.
Must do it more often.

and so home at last, if briefly

missing runs

mmm haven't blogged since Sunday

something to do with being feeble I think

anyway it went like this:

Sunday - ran early, meetings all day, work to do in the evening, late to bed

Monday - couldn't get up early to run, needed sleep; worked late into the evening

Tuesday - had to get up early to get early into the office to email work from Monday

Wednesday - at last the energy to get up and run - 2½ miles in 31:31 ok so not that far but it was 12:49 mm so quick for me

Thursday - snowing, so I was persuaded to go to the gym - so I could give the teenbeanzes a lift to school on the way - so cross-trainer and then tready 2½ miles done

Friday - and its long run day - more snow, cold wind but eventually I get myself out the door, snow has stopped and it is thawing slightly - though I cannot imgaine why, it is FREEZING
plod the first mile mostly downhill, but as soon as I reach an uphill bit my back aches - and this is the route that is best described as hilly - so with this back ache there is no way I am going to cope with all the hills an dI decide to turn back :<( and a pathetic 2 miles completed
back home I phone the phyzz who miraculously has had a cancellation and I have been down there for a prod - she agrees the back is tight and going into spasma and says that I need to do the core strength stuff more carefully and regularly

so that is me told

I MUST do it

tomorrow's another day

and its National XC Champs at Parliament Hills - is it a year since I met Ruth at the Brum races?

so teenbeanz is running and various other forumites - its looking to be a cold muddy day out

Plodding on

Blogging by email this week so no fancy formatting or tables.

Saturday
After a lie-in and some work I made it out for a short plod in the park. Aimed for a steady run, not easy given some of the gradients. However I did keep going in the last half mile up the hill.
What: plod in the park
distance : 2.6 miles
Time:37:17
Pace: 14:34
AHR: 136

Sunday
In Cambridge and up in time to start the day with a plod. It's good to run on a level route again. It was time for a threshold run and I set the Garmin up :
5 mins @ 60% AHR
5 mins @ 70% AHR
2 mins @ 80%; 1 min @ 70%; x 5
5 mins @ 70% AHR
5 mins @ 60% AHR

It was hard work without TP Jackie to keep me going - but I managed at least 1.5 minutes of 80% in each rep. And as I wasn't back at the hotel by the end I plodded back at about 70%

Overall:
What: threshold run
distance : 3.2 miles
Time:40:40
Pace: 12:41
AHR: 139
MHR: 180
Fastest rep :10:15 mm for 2 minutes

Pretty pleased with the numbers.

struggling this week

plodded Tuesday
prodded Wednesday
travelled Thursday
worked Friday
now knackered with nothing to show for it

masseuse did a brilliant prod on Wednesday really hit the spots that made my shin sore - and, after some icing, it is sore no more :>))

however I should have done a long run with Ruth today, but didn't - coudln't make our diaries fit

and I have let the work pile up so didn't even go out on my own - at all

there's no wonder the teenbeanzes are struggling to finish all their coursework - I do nto set a good example and I am struggling too - too much time forumming, reading blogs and generally messing around

not enough work done each day to keep the deadlines at bay

so then I have to stay up late to finish things and am worn out next day

aagh!


still if I can get through the next 24 hours and get stuff done, it is off to Cambridge - stay in a hotel - plods before breakfast alternating threshold, base and recovery I think

and early nights

maybe I can recover some of my get up and go

and not get myself in this mess again


maybe



or maybe not ..................

a plod in the park

what a great plod!

XB commented at the weekend how the Garmin liberates you to go off route and still have all the geeky (my word not his) numbers to look at afterwards

so off for a plod in the park - recovery run is the technical term

now it is not totally possible to keep your HR under control in my park but still I'll try

so a standard loop of the lake and field, listening to the birds thinking it's spring already

but still 20 minutes to do, so off across the golf course, just wandering in places I don't normally venture; some plodding, some walking up steep bits until eventually I get home

almost 44 minutes done, no tarmac and loads of fresh air

must do this more often!

and I realised that I could do my threshold runs around the lake where it is reasonably flat

the best bit?
seeing our retired GP walking her dog - she used to have two dodgy hips, but after two ops she is striding out across the golf course, like a woman half her age :>)

oh, numbers:

what: recovery run
where: the park
distance: 2.83 m
time: 44:42
pace: 15:47
AHR: 128

a new me?

Monday
later that day ...................
I have been doing the sugar free me challenge for 6 days now and enjoying the need to think before I eat only a few transgressions:
a glass of wine and a half of beer at TP (well the sugar has all been converted to alcohol hasn't it?)
and a home made bread roll left over from the weekend that was calling out to be toasted with some nice sharp fair trade marmalade

and has it had any effect?
no noticeable headaches, which some folk forecast - but then if not bingeing on sweet stuff which DID give me a headache I did not eat that much really

I HAVE been eating more fruit instead - so a good thing all round

and 1½lbs lost at WW this evening :>))

Trailplus weekend

A great weekend again.

Lots of forumites - and, especially, lots of waisters, who really are the best friends you could ask for.

Friday
The drive down was enlivened by travelling with XB (driver), daffy and EF, and RB following and then meeting up with Pix at the services, so a convoy of three proceeded to the Forest of Dean.

It had been a hard week, so I passed on the evening run, knowing the legs would be doing plenty of work over the weekend.

The weekend consisted of a mixture of talks and practical sessions, with the aim of enabling you to put together a tranining programme to sut your needs. And as they work on time on feet, rather than distance run, the advice given can apply to everybody.

The people there were targeting everything from 2:30-2:45 times to 6 hours (me) - there were also people there who do not currently have a marathon on the horizon and some might never, but the advice was good for all runners, particularly endurance runners.

Saturday
So an early morning pre-breakfast 'recovery' run to get the metabolism going and theoretically raise your metabolism for the rest of the day - and help fat burning (sounds good to me)

A talk on the elements of an endurance programme:
Sunday: long run at 65-75% MRH
Monday: Rest or Recovery run (40 minutes @ 60-65%) or cross train 60 minutes
Tuesday: Kenyan Hills - steady up and down starting with 20s up and 10 reps and then increasing length and reps
Wednesday: Rest or Recovery or cross train
Thursday: Threshold run at 80-85%
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: Fartlek/marathon pace run/threshold run

have a step back week every fourth week, build up slowly, include plenty of stretching and core strength
every session starts with a warm up walk and jog for 10 minutes and warm down jog at the end

Then out to practice threshold running - splitting into groups our plodders group did 5 x 2 minutes at 80% HR - looks good on the garmin data!

shower and lunch

digest lunch whilst listening to a talk on nutrition - nothing new really, just reinforcing good habits

out to practice Kenyan Hills - which are not several reps of Mount Kilimanjaro but steady running up and down hills, rather than traditional eyeballs out stuff

the hill looked much like my killer hill that goes on for a mile! I cannot imagine doing reps up and down the A6 though

and back for a practical session on stretching

and a talk on personal training plans

and a good dinner - unless you were a garlic-hating vegetarian!

Sunday
no early run so breakfast then a talk about the long run - and a clearly stated belief that no one should be doing more than 3 hours running in training - more marathons are ruined by peaking with a long run that is not is done too hard and does not allow time for recovery

so on this theory I crashed at mile 18 because I ran 18 miles in 4 hours with Ruth three weeks out, not because I did not run 20 miles

so having ignored the advice last year to not run more than 3 hours, this year I am going to take it!

and then the long run - out for 1:38 , lots of pauses to regroup; some walking because our legs were feeling the effects of threshold and hills, we had a lovely damp morning in the forest

a final shower, lunch and then a talk about tapering and The Last Week - how to run perfect marathons!

and its time to go home

a great weekend - 13 miles plodded, some of it quickly!

and a new schedule sorted

Good Wednesday

A good day

• another pound gone missing at WW - some progress at last on that front

• a good run at the club - 3 miles, no walking and my best ever time for the route (by 3½ minutes) - including several roads to cross
  what: 3.2 miles
  pace: 12:50 mm
  AHR: 148

• sugarfreeme - stuck with it all day and feel better for it

running longer

long run day and the traget is 14 miles at less than 14 mmm overall.

This will be the longest run since FLM05

After an early start, porage and seeing everyone off to school/work I had time to mark a few scripts before setting out.

I decided to pursue my water + glucose tablets regimne and see if it will be ok.

The weather is as it has been for days - grey - but at least not too cold and it is dry.

The route is my nearly9 mile route plus my nearly6 mile route, without actually coming right home. As the 6 miles is a sort of subset of the 9, this will involve most of killer hill twice, but that is difficult to avoid starting from home.

Usual tight calves for the first few miles, together with a slightly sore shin, but nothing to worry about once I was warmed up - about 3 miles!!

I'm getting to know the out route better now and there is enough traffic and other people about to feel safe but much better than all main road.

Passing a field of sheep I spotted the first lambs I've seen this year - it was quite cold so they were all snuggled up with their mums.

Coming up killer hill for the first time my back was really aching and there was a slight temptation to cut this short and come home, rather than start the second loop, but I gritted my teeth, thought of my waister pals and on I went.

This was a tough few miles - I struggled to run at all on some of the upwards bits and parts were miserable, but then I'd come to a level bit and find myself plodding along at 13:20 pace again!

When I arrived at Killer Hill the second time I remembered Highway Kind's advice from a year ago and just used the walk as a warm down and didn't even attempt to run it.

So its done!

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	12:41	131	downhill
2	13:23	133	stretching
3	14:14	133	more stretching
4	14:31	134	uphill
5	13:00	136	feeling good
6	13:09	135
7	13:06	137	stopped watch to buy water
8	13:17	138	killer hill first time
9	14:04	134	back on the second loop
10	13:53	134	not so quick this time!
11	14:23	135	back aching really struggling
12	13:56	133
13	14:17	134
0.97	16:33	126	walked most of killer hill
13.97	13:53	134	3:14:01

a good day

Starting with WW and weigh in - lost 2 lbs this week - getting intot he groove at last.

Mrbeanz had the day off so after he had been to the phyzz with his sore calf (torn muscle) we went out for lunch - a very rare event as we never seem to be at home together on a weekday when the teenbeanzes are at school. So we went to the pub around the corner and had a pensioners' lunch - bargain week day lunches - the few other people in there were all much greyer haired than us! It had much improved since last time we went, must go again some time.

And then club run this evening - was cold probably around about 0C - has not crept much above that today.

Just a couple of miles as it was sooo cold, and we had our beginner with us; but they were good miles:

distance: 2.04 miles
time: 26:26 minutes
pace: 12:57 mm
AHR: 144

Rest day tomorrow - working away tomorrow.