I've survived the first week of 5 days a week training, and have come out relatively unscathed. Admittedly, I had to lie on the sofa for two hours on Sunday after the long run, but I think my legs are thanking me for it.
Last week, it wasn't too bad to fit everything in but this week is looking fairly nervewracking in terms of scheduling. Overall, the post-redundancy-newly-freelance lifestyle should be conducive to fitting in 5 runs a week but because I have foolishly decided to head to Spain for a week on Thursday (to seemingly RUBBISH weather - sigh) it means I've got to fit 5 days work into 2 days as well as pack, run 3 times and just generally get my life together. I'm daunted already by the prospect of fitting everything in - I shouldn't even be writing this blog, let's face it, it's just another task to add to the list.
At this rate, my hot weather training camp is looking like a grey and stormy training camp, so I will be unable to rest my legs at the beach and instead will be trapped in the house, going out of my mind, and will end up just checking my work emails and not getting a break at all. As you can see, I'm feeling very bleak about the week in prospect.
Still, it could be worse. I could not be able to run. I woke up this morning with the toes of my right foot in spasm, unable to put any weight on my right foot. So I'm going out shortly for my first training run of the week, and hoping and praying that the old foot injury is not going to come back in just the second week of training.
On that note, I'm going to try and flip my misery, take a couple of extra books, price up a couple of nights in Valencia in case the weather gets really bad, and just crack on with the work. The sooner I finish it, the sooner I can run, pack and generally wish for nice weather on my holiday. The power of positive thinking!
LON
Tuesday 31 May 2011
Thursday 19 May 2011
Rain - what rain?
My attempt at running 5 times this week is already under threat. I have only run once so far so I am fast running out of time to fit in 5 runs - maybe I'll have to go all pro and do two runs one day!
Although I do think I should get major bonus points for my run last night. Working temporarily again in Central London ( and hating it) I thought I would make the most of my change in location and run back from the office to Paddington Station via a loop of Regents Park. Sounds lovely, doesn't it. Unfortunately, I picked the only hour this week that it actually rained to make this run.
Regents Park is lovely, but I am convinced that the rain falls heavier there than in a built up area. Is greater exposure to the sky proven to make you even more soaked? By the time I exited the park my eyelids had filled up so much with water I was genuinely concerned that my contact lenses might wash out of my eyes, leaving me unable to read the departure board at Paddington and ending up accidentally on a train to Swansea with nothing but wet kit, a fiver and an Oyster Card. The last time I went to Swansea, I was verbally abused by a drunk and pushed out of a taxi by a drug addict, so I was in no hurry to get back there.
Unfortunately this meant that I left the park by the first available exit over the west side, not really paying any attention to where I was. Regular readers of this blog are familiar with my tendency to get lost on runs and last night's was no exception, although the heavy rain should have been inducement enough to get the route right. I ended up on a lovely little detour of chi chi St Johns Wood, but luckily years of being a cricket fan meant I was able to orientate myself from Lords, and headed off in the direction of Paddington proper. There were even road signs to reassure me.
By the time I reached the north end of Edgware Road, I realised I stood a chance of catching the 6.18 train back home. Spurred on by the thought of a hot shower and a dry towel, I accelerated and went for a lovely tempo run all the way back to Paddington. Running a race pace is a new thing for me midweek - I've never been able to achieve race pace outside of a race before, ever, and by the time I reached the back of Paddington Station I was breathing so heavily the entire population of W2 was staring at me like a lycra-clad phone pervert.
Still I made the train and managed to have a lovely journey home, where no one rested their paper on me, used me as a tray for their handbag or otherwise ignored my presence. I was so obviously someone to be noticed and avoided, with rivulets of rain and sweat dropping from my hair, my nose and in particular my sleeves. Showered, dressed and dried by 7, I think all in all the rain wasn't that bad a thing to happen.
Deluded
LON
Although I do think I should get major bonus points for my run last night. Working temporarily again in Central London ( and hating it) I thought I would make the most of my change in location and run back from the office to Paddington Station via a loop of Regents Park. Sounds lovely, doesn't it. Unfortunately, I picked the only hour this week that it actually rained to make this run.
Regents Park is lovely, but I am convinced that the rain falls heavier there than in a built up area. Is greater exposure to the sky proven to make you even more soaked? By the time I exited the park my eyelids had filled up so much with water I was genuinely concerned that my contact lenses might wash out of my eyes, leaving me unable to read the departure board at Paddington and ending up accidentally on a train to Swansea with nothing but wet kit, a fiver and an Oyster Card. The last time I went to Swansea, I was verbally abused by a drunk and pushed out of a taxi by a drug addict, so I was in no hurry to get back there.
Unfortunately this meant that I left the park by the first available exit over the west side, not really paying any attention to where I was. Regular readers of this blog are familiar with my tendency to get lost on runs and last night's was no exception, although the heavy rain should have been inducement enough to get the route right. I ended up on a lovely little detour of chi chi St Johns Wood, but luckily years of being a cricket fan meant I was able to orientate myself from Lords, and headed off in the direction of Paddington proper. There were even road signs to reassure me.
By the time I reached the north end of Edgware Road, I realised I stood a chance of catching the 6.18 train back home. Spurred on by the thought of a hot shower and a dry towel, I accelerated and went for a lovely tempo run all the way back to Paddington. Running a race pace is a new thing for me midweek - I've never been able to achieve race pace outside of a race before, ever, and by the time I reached the back of Paddington Station I was breathing so heavily the entire population of W2 was staring at me like a lycra-clad phone pervert.
Still I made the train and managed to have a lovely journey home, where no one rested their paper on me, used me as a tray for their handbag or otherwise ignored my presence. I was so obviously someone to be noticed and avoided, with rivulets of rain and sweat dropping from my hair, my nose and in particular my sleeves. Showered, dressed and dried by 7, I think all in all the rain wasn't that bad a thing to happen.
Deluded
LON
Sunday 15 May 2011
Back in training
The last week or so has been all about pre-preparation for the Berlin Marathon. I've selected the training plan I'm going to follow - from Hal Higdon's Marathon book (which I am loving, by the way. Lots of self-aware, overanalytical American nonsense in there, but for the most part an excellent book about running marathons, with lots of practical advice too). My training proper starts on Monday 23 May, so in the meantime it's just about testing how much fitness I lost when I was not running with my foot injury.
I've had a few short runs and they've all gone well. The only real problem is the hayfever, and no amount of training is ever going to prevent that!
Today I entered a 10k race, as a test of fitness. I wanted to compare this morning's time with past runs in this event, to see how much fitness I had lost in the last month.
On the whole, not bad overall. I had a bit of stressful journey there, as I got stuck behind a series of slow moving vehicles, whose drivers insisted on driving way below the speed limit. Only the last of the four was a learner driver - the rest of them have no excuse whatsoever. Luckily I had allowed lots of time to get to the race start, but I was feeling frustrated and bad tempered before the race.
The first couple of miles were a struggle - for the first km I was last! The sight of a group of pensioners ahead of me was enough incentive to kick on and start pushing myself a bit and I did manage to get in front of several runners by the 3km mark. And I was pacing nicely - really even times. My mile times were consistent with my mile times in the NY Half marathon in March and although for a 10k I would normally be a bit faster, I was pretty happy with that consistent pacing overall.
As the race went on, several other runners were starting to slow (pacing is everything, people!) and I managed to really move away from last place. By the 6km mark I was fairly convinced I was going to finish, and finish ok. I felt no issue in the right foot, despite chunks of the race being on uneven grassy surface, and the longer the race went on, the stronger I felt. Shame it wasn't a half!
I also finished strongly, with the last mile the fastest, and I am definitely taking that as a positive. I was probably about 2 minutes slower than when I did that race two years ago, but consistent with my 10k time in New York in March, so the verdict is: not too much of the fitness has been lost.
The new marathon training plan is 5 times a week. One more outing per week than my NYC 2009 training plan. The mileage looks good, however - testing but feasible. So I'm going to go for it. Essentially this means even less social life than ever before, but I'm hoping that my current redundancy-induced freelance working lifestyle means that I will be able to be more flexible and fit in more runs. Here's hoping.
This week I'm going to try and run 5 times a week as a test before I start marathon training proper. Will I be able to manage 5 times a week for the next 19 weeks? Is that really all it is until Berlin? I won't know until I try, but I'd be lying if I didn't feel a little bit daunted by the prospect of that frequency.
Still, I'm determined to give it a go, test myself and hopefully knock those minutes off my time on September 25. Time to dust off the Jaffa Cakes and hit the streets in earnest.
LON
I've had a few short runs and they've all gone well. The only real problem is the hayfever, and no amount of training is ever going to prevent that!
Today I entered a 10k race, as a test of fitness. I wanted to compare this morning's time with past runs in this event, to see how much fitness I had lost in the last month.
On the whole, not bad overall. I had a bit of stressful journey there, as I got stuck behind a series of slow moving vehicles, whose drivers insisted on driving way below the speed limit. Only the last of the four was a learner driver - the rest of them have no excuse whatsoever. Luckily I had allowed lots of time to get to the race start, but I was feeling frustrated and bad tempered before the race.
The first couple of miles were a struggle - for the first km I was last! The sight of a group of pensioners ahead of me was enough incentive to kick on and start pushing myself a bit and I did manage to get in front of several runners by the 3km mark. And I was pacing nicely - really even times. My mile times were consistent with my mile times in the NY Half marathon in March and although for a 10k I would normally be a bit faster, I was pretty happy with that consistent pacing overall.
As the race went on, several other runners were starting to slow (pacing is everything, people!) and I managed to really move away from last place. By the 6km mark I was fairly convinced I was going to finish, and finish ok. I felt no issue in the right foot, despite chunks of the race being on uneven grassy surface, and the longer the race went on, the stronger I felt. Shame it wasn't a half!
I also finished strongly, with the last mile the fastest, and I am definitely taking that as a positive. I was probably about 2 minutes slower than when I did that race two years ago, but consistent with my 10k time in New York in March, so the verdict is: not too much of the fitness has been lost.
The new marathon training plan is 5 times a week. One more outing per week than my NYC 2009 training plan. The mileage looks good, however - testing but feasible. So I'm going to go for it. Essentially this means even less social life than ever before, but I'm hoping that my current redundancy-induced freelance working lifestyle means that I will be able to be more flexible and fit in more runs. Here's hoping.
This week I'm going to try and run 5 times a week as a test before I start marathon training proper. Will I be able to manage 5 times a week for the next 19 weeks? Is that really all it is until Berlin? I won't know until I try, but I'd be lying if I didn't feel a little bit daunted by the prospect of that frequency.
Still, I'm determined to give it a go, test myself and hopefully knock those minutes off my time on September 25. Time to dust off the Jaffa Cakes and hit the streets in earnest.
LON
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Marathon training - it's all in the planning
I am still not running, due to ongoing footache. It is markedly better and I'm hopeful of a run this weekend, but in the meantime have been cycling and walking long distances (which surprisingly does not hurt) to maintain some fitness
I've also been using the downtime to plan my marathon training a lot more rigorously than New York in 2009. Then it was easy - the world (well, it's wide web) is littered with beginner marathon training programmes.
However, after beginner plans move straight into advanced. Some are called intermediate, but essentially these are still for people running their first marathon after trying one or two half marathons. The advanced ones are so daunting as to be impossible. It's becoming a bit of a minefield, to be honest.
I started with the Internet, as that is where I have downloaded all previous training plans. There are essentially 3 types of internet training plan online:
1) the I have never run before, but have accidentally signed up for a marathon/wanted to run a marathon before I die and need to get round 26.2 miles plan. These build basic fitness and measure runs in time rather than miles. And are not testing enough for me
2) The sub 4 hour marathon plan. God I would love to do a sub 4 hour marathon but surely there is something in between getting round in however long it takes and 4 hours. Like sub 4.30 (my target)? I'm quite happy to attempt a sub 4 hour training plan, though, as soon as I find one which doesn't require you giving up full time work due to the amount of mileage and runs/cross training you have to put in.
3) elite. Nuff said...
Failing to find anything suitable on the internet, I've gone for the book route. Currently on my table are 4 books containing training plans.
The first two are female orientated, one more overtly than the other. Liz Yelling's the Women's Guide to Running is quite well written, but aimed predominantly at women who don't do anything resembling exercise, have difficulty motivating themselves or finding time to get out for a run etc and contains nothing for a female who runs already. Even the improvers marathon training plan is plotted in time not mileage. This makes me incredibly sad and equally furious - that a woman's life is so fraught that she can only slot in runs based on time rather than distance.
Runs based on time are dull, dull, dull. I can't figure out how long it will take without doing out and back (yawn). And it doesn't help you to develop pacing strategies for races either. But hey, women are only doing it for the weight loss, aren't they. They aren't serious people, like those masculine chaps. [Feminist rant over.]
The second is How to Run by Paula Radcliffe, my girl crush. It's quite new and not essentially for females but when you read it, you get the sense that the publisher assumes mainly females will buy it. Being Paula, there are some testing training plans in there. Very testing. The gulf between the intermediate (time not distance again, grr) and the advanced (give up work because you're running a minimum of 10 miles 6 times a week), however, is huge. I would like to give the advanced programme a go, but know that off the back of an injury layoff I am asking for trouble. So I will maybe park that one for next year, and hope for full fitness in advance of NYC 2012
The remaining two are chalk and cheese. The Essential guide to Running has made me so mad on opening it I can't even bear to discuss it. Again, aimed at someone who is thinking of taking up running, or just started yesterday. But to make matters worse, it also talks to them like they are a complete simpleton.
Where are the books for the inbetweeners? Surely I can't be the only person looking to improve who isn't going to be a bloody elite after their first marathon. I am getting lots of extra training in walking back to the library to take these books back but not much joy in terms of training plans
My hope is now pinned on Hal Higdon's Marathon. A quick scan of his webpages this morning was vaguely positive - training plans based on miles not time, and a range of them to choose from. Surely something called Marathon must be the winner? Certainly compared to the Essential guide to running, it appears like a seriously worthy tome. I live in hope of these plans working out for me.
In the meantime, if anyone can offer a mileage-based, 4-5 week training schedule that is testing without being a full-time job, please let me know!
LON
I've also been using the downtime to plan my marathon training a lot more rigorously than New York in 2009. Then it was easy - the world (well, it's wide web) is littered with beginner marathon training programmes.
However, after beginner plans move straight into advanced. Some are called intermediate, but essentially these are still for people running their first marathon after trying one or two half marathons. The advanced ones are so daunting as to be impossible. It's becoming a bit of a minefield, to be honest.
I started with the Internet, as that is where I have downloaded all previous training plans. There are essentially 3 types of internet training plan online:
1) the I have never run before, but have accidentally signed up for a marathon/wanted to run a marathon before I die and need to get round 26.2 miles plan. These build basic fitness and measure runs in time rather than miles. And are not testing enough for me
2) The sub 4 hour marathon plan. God I would love to do a sub 4 hour marathon but surely there is something in between getting round in however long it takes and 4 hours. Like sub 4.30 (my target)? I'm quite happy to attempt a sub 4 hour training plan, though, as soon as I find one which doesn't require you giving up full time work due to the amount of mileage and runs/cross training you have to put in.
3) elite. Nuff said...
Failing to find anything suitable on the internet, I've gone for the book route. Currently on my table are 4 books containing training plans.
The first two are female orientated, one more overtly than the other. Liz Yelling's the Women's Guide to Running is quite well written, but aimed predominantly at women who don't do anything resembling exercise, have difficulty motivating themselves or finding time to get out for a run etc and contains nothing for a female who runs already. Even the improvers marathon training plan is plotted in time not mileage. This makes me incredibly sad and equally furious - that a woman's life is so fraught that she can only slot in runs based on time rather than distance.
Runs based on time are dull, dull, dull. I can't figure out how long it will take without doing out and back (yawn). And it doesn't help you to develop pacing strategies for races either. But hey, women are only doing it for the weight loss, aren't they. They aren't serious people, like those masculine chaps. [Feminist rant over.]
The second is How to Run by Paula Radcliffe, my girl crush. It's quite new and not essentially for females but when you read it, you get the sense that the publisher assumes mainly females will buy it. Being Paula, there are some testing training plans in there. Very testing. The gulf between the intermediate (time not distance again, grr) and the advanced (give up work because you're running a minimum of 10 miles 6 times a week), however, is huge. I would like to give the advanced programme a go, but know that off the back of an injury layoff I am asking for trouble. So I will maybe park that one for next year, and hope for full fitness in advance of NYC 2012
The remaining two are chalk and cheese. The Essential guide to Running has made me so mad on opening it I can't even bear to discuss it. Again, aimed at someone who is thinking of taking up running, or just started yesterday. But to make matters worse, it also talks to them like they are a complete simpleton.
Where are the books for the inbetweeners? Surely I can't be the only person looking to improve who isn't going to be a bloody elite after their first marathon. I am getting lots of extra training in walking back to the library to take these books back but not much joy in terms of training plans
My hope is now pinned on Hal Higdon's Marathon. A quick scan of his webpages this morning was vaguely positive - training plans based on miles not time, and a range of them to choose from. Surely something called Marathon must be the winner? Certainly compared to the Essential guide to running, it appears like a seriously worthy tome. I live in hope of these plans working out for me.
In the meantime, if anyone can offer a mileage-based, 4-5 week training schedule that is testing without being a full-time job, please let me know!
LON
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