This week got off to a slow start, with work being hectic I didn't manage to get out for the first 3 days.
Lauren was out supervising Prom on Thursday and so I took the opportunity to do a long run and managed to do a Half Marathon. I quickened the pace in the second half after a steady opening, I even managed to finish a minute quicker than I did at the Southend Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago.
Life then got in the way of running again, but I did manage to fit in a 5 mile run on Saturday at my parents caravan, before a very slow, very tired 5 miler on Sunday after my Cousins wedding.
Overall a very good life week, I think my efforts at work were appreciated, it was nice to spend an evening with Lauren at the Caravan, before a fantastic family wedding Saturday and a very lazy Sunday recovering.
The running part of the week left something to be desired. 3 runs 23 miles total, but more importantly a 13miler in the middle of the week saved it. If I can get out for a 5 or 6 miler tomorrow June will be my biggest mileage month ever, I have also ran 100+ miles for 4 months in a row something I had previously failed to do in my 5 years of running. The first 4 weeks of 20 have gone ok maybe 6/10 and with 16 weeks to go to Chelmsford I will be looking to take it up another gear or two.
Sunday 29 June 2014
Monday 23 June 2014
Countdown to Chelmsford Marathon 2014 - Week 3 of 20 - Diet and Falling Short
So after the drinking excess of the England Vs Italy game I decided to track the food and drink I ate this week. It highlighted how much bad food I ate, but did have the positive effect of making me eat 3 square meals a day. I really struggle with Breakfast in the mornings but managed to get at least a bowl of cereal in me everyday.
The football went badly again this week with England being knocked out on Thursday. It has been frustrating to lose two tight games and on such small margins. Hope we get some goals and points on the board in the final match against Costa Rica tomorrow.
Finally to the main purpose of this blog the running, and that went ok this week. Just the four runs:
1 x 7.5 mile Commute home from the office - Steady
1 x 5 mile tempo. 7:15-7:20 mile pace. Fitted in between work and round a friends for the football.
1 x 5 mile steady
1 x 10 mile medium long run. 9 min miles.
I should have run 10km on Friday but had a dinner offer and couldn't refuse. Was pleased to fit in my tempo run on Thursday when I could easily have skipped it. The run on Saturday was tough and I had no energy for it. Recovered slightly on Sunday, but the 15 mile target was too ambitious and I worked hard to make the 10 mile minimum. 6/10 I'd say.
If I apply myself this week I should comfortably have the biggest mileage month of my life somewhere around 125 miles. So some encouraging early signs.
The football went badly again this week with England being knocked out on Thursday. It has been frustrating to lose two tight games and on such small margins. Hope we get some goals and points on the board in the final match against Costa Rica tomorrow.
Finally to the main purpose of this blog the running, and that went ok this week. Just the four runs:
1 x 7.5 mile Commute home from the office - Steady
1 x 5 mile tempo. 7:15-7:20 mile pace. Fitted in between work and round a friends for the football.
1 x 5 mile steady
1 x 10 mile medium long run. 9 min miles.
I should have run 10km on Friday but had a dinner offer and couldn't refuse. Was pleased to fit in my tempo run on Thursday when I could easily have skipped it. The run on Saturday was tough and I had no energy for it. Recovered slightly on Sunday, but the 15 mile target was too ambitious and I worked hard to make the 10 mile minimum. 6/10 I'd say.
If I apply myself this week I should comfortably have the biggest mileage month of my life somewhere around 125 miles. So some encouraging early signs.
Monday 16 June 2014
Countdown to Chelmsford Marathon 2014 - Week 2 of 20 - Bday, BBQ, Booze, Balotelli.
After the disappointment of Southend Half Marathon last week I was keen to have a big mileage week in week 2. These are the runs I managed to do:
5 - Recovery/Easy Runs 8:45-9:00 Mins/Mile
2 x 10km
1 x 5 Miler
2 x 7.5 Miles
Total Mileage 33 Miles.
There wasn't too much to report my body was tired from the Half Marathon and so I didn't want to push the pace. Just nice and steady in the hopes of something approaching 40 miles for the week. I over did the drinking on Saturday for a friend's Birthday BBQ and then into the England game, meant I was sick all Sunday morning. Had to cancel a planned cycle with my brother, but after a BBQ round my parent's for Fathers Day I did manage to summon the energy to go for a 7.5 miler before settling down for some World Cup action.
So a good mile accumulating week and my biggest mileage week since the Tenerife Training Camp. Will look for a similar week next week, with the addition of a 15 mile run in place of the 7.5 mile run this week. Depending on energy levels will also convert one of the easy 10km's into a tempo effort.
Starting to look at the other factors affecting my performance and so will be taking a closer look at what I eat, the alcohol I drink and the sleep I'm getting. No stone will be left unturned in my quest for a decent Marathon performance.
5 - Recovery/Easy Runs 8:45-9:00 Mins/Mile
2 x 10km
1 x 5 Miler
2 x 7.5 Miles
Total Mileage 33 Miles.
There wasn't too much to report my body was tired from the Half Marathon and so I didn't want to push the pace. Just nice and steady in the hopes of something approaching 40 miles for the week. I over did the drinking on Saturday for a friend's Birthday BBQ and then into the England game, meant I was sick all Sunday morning. Had to cancel a planned cycle with my brother, but after a BBQ round my parent's for Fathers Day I did manage to summon the energy to go for a 7.5 miler before settling down for some World Cup action.
So a good mile accumulating week and my biggest mileage week since the Tenerife Training Camp. Will look for a similar week next week, with the addition of a 15 mile run in place of the 7.5 mile run this week. Depending on energy levels will also convert one of the easy 10km's into a tempo effort.
Starting to look at the other factors affecting my performance and so will be taking a closer look at what I eat, the alcohol I drink and the sleep I'm getting. No stone will be left unturned in my quest for a decent Marathon performance.
Sunday 8 June 2014
Countdown to Chelmsford Marathon 2014 Week 1 of 20 - Southend Half Marathon 2014 Report
So here we have the first of twenty blogs to document my journey on the way to Chelmsford Parks Marathon 2014.
My training this week consisted of:
4 runs
1 - 5 Mile steady (Nice run, listening to my new running playlist)
1 - 2 Mile WU, 2 Mile HM target pace, 1 Mile WD. (Had a play around with this session, the 7:30 mile pace felt really tough)
1 - 4 Mile General (Intended to be gentle run a couple of days before the HM, but was working far to hard and was just fried)
1 - Half Marathon race (A really disappointing race, the blow by blow details are below)
Shocker at the Southend HM. Really must rank right up there in term of race disappointments, with results compared to expectations.
Had done a 10k at the end of May and did 44:00, so should have been able to achieve 1:38 today, worst case 1:40. Went out aiming for 7:30 miles and was too fast early on, the cramped streets and no attempt to filter people based on estimated times mean lots of dodging needed.
Made it down to the seafront at 2 miles and was working hard, tried to settle down and find my own space and pace. Managed to rein it in and went through 4 miles slightly ahead of the 7:30 average but I was working far too hard for it. Was already thinking of ways to manage the blowup.
Did miles 5 and 6 in 8 minute miles and then mile 7 in just under 8:30. My first walk was just after 7.5 miles, was gutted. Hoped it was temporary and I could settle into 8 minute miles and come home in 1:45ish, but I was bushed and the walks were coming more often.
The Heart Rate for the first 8 miles of 175beats a minute as an average looks too high based on 190 Max HR that is 92%. Hopefully shows that it was physical as well as mental weakness.
The 2nd half of the race was just a grim battle with the heat and my body. Apart from mile 9 it looks like I found some kind of run/walk pattern to do 9:30 minute miles and had enough energy in the last 400m to put a good burst for home.
Really gutted by today's race, but it was my 6th Southend HM and I haven't missed one since my debut in 2009. I could so easily have sacked it in and walked off today, was just blown. So pleased to keep the run of races up though.
I won't dwell on it too long, I have done 2 10 milers since Manchester Marathon at around 9minute miles. My consistent 25 mile weeks of 4 or 5 runs of 5 miles or 10k are great and a building block but obviously lead to decent shorter distance results. The way I'm set up at the minute with no cycling to bale me out, I need to do the medium and long runs for decent Half Marathon and Marathon performance.
I'll be blogging each week to let you know of my training progress and have some fuller blogs when the week involves some racing. I might do a parkrun, but my next official race is a 10k in July and I hope to perform much better there than I did today in the heat of Southend.
Below are the eye wateringly bad splits, just noticed that my mile pace gets slower and slower without fail, miles 1 through 9. Ouch!
Split Summary
===
1) 1m - 7:11(7:11/m) 171/178bpm
2) 1m - 7:22(7:22/m) 176/181bpm
3) 1m - 7:32(7:32/m) 176/178bpm
4) 1m - 7:38(7:38/m) 175/178bpm
5) 1m - 7:59(7:59/m) 176/178bpm
6) 1m - 8:00(8:00/m) 175/178bpm
7) 1m - 8:25(8:25/m) 174/176bpm
8) 1m - 9:07(9:07/m) 171/176bpm
9) 1m - 10:30(10:30/m) 162/173bpm
10) 1m - 9:39(9:39/m) 135/154bpm
11) 1m - 9:35(9:35/m) 140/166bpm
12) 1m - 9:31(9:31/m) 166/173bpm
13) 1m - 9:23(9:23/m) 168/178bpm
14) 0.13m - 48(6:18/m) 178/179bpm
My training this week consisted of:
4 runs
1 - 5 Mile steady (Nice run, listening to my new running playlist)
1 - 2 Mile WU, 2 Mile HM target pace, 1 Mile WD. (Had a play around with this session, the 7:30 mile pace felt really tough)
1 - 4 Mile General (Intended to be gentle run a couple of days before the HM, but was working far to hard and was just fried)
1 - Half Marathon race (A really disappointing race, the blow by blow details are below)
Shocker at the Southend HM. Really must rank right up there in term of race disappointments, with results compared to expectations.
Had done a 10k at the end of May and did 44:00, so should have been able to achieve 1:38 today, worst case 1:40. Went out aiming for 7:30 miles and was too fast early on, the cramped streets and no attempt to filter people based on estimated times mean lots of dodging needed.
Made it down to the seafront at 2 miles and was working hard, tried to settle down and find my own space and pace. Managed to rein it in and went through 4 miles slightly ahead of the 7:30 average but I was working far too hard for it. Was already thinking of ways to manage the blowup.
Did miles 5 and 6 in 8 minute miles and then mile 7 in just under 8:30. My first walk was just after 7.5 miles, was gutted. Hoped it was temporary and I could settle into 8 minute miles and come home in 1:45ish, but I was bushed and the walks were coming more often.
The Heart Rate for the first 8 miles of 175beats a minute as an average looks too high based on 190 Max HR that is 92%. Hopefully shows that it was physical as well as mental weakness.
The 2nd half of the race was just a grim battle with the heat and my body. Apart from mile 9 it looks like I found some kind of run/walk pattern to do 9:30 minute miles and had enough energy in the last 400m to put a good burst for home.
Really gutted by today's race, but it was my 6th Southend HM and I haven't missed one since my debut in 2009. I could so easily have sacked it in and walked off today, was just blown. So pleased to keep the run of races up though.
I won't dwell on it too long, I have done 2 10 milers since Manchester Marathon at around 9minute miles. My consistent 25 mile weeks of 4 or 5 runs of 5 miles or 10k are great and a building block but obviously lead to decent shorter distance results. The way I'm set up at the minute with no cycling to bale me out, I need to do the medium and long runs for decent Half Marathon and Marathon performance.
I'll be blogging each week to let you know of my training progress and have some fuller blogs when the week involves some racing. I might do a parkrun, but my next official race is a 10k in July and I hope to perform much better there than I did today in the heat of Southend.
Below are the eye wateringly bad splits, just noticed that my mile pace gets slower and slower without fail, miles 1 through 9. Ouch!
Split Summary
===
1) 1m - 7:11(7:11/m) 171/178bpm
2) 1m - 7:22(7:22/m) 176/181bpm
3) 1m - 7:32(7:32/m) 176/178bpm
4) 1m - 7:38(7:38/m) 175/178bpm
5) 1m - 7:59(7:59/m) 176/178bpm
6) 1m - 8:00(8:00/m) 175/178bpm
7) 1m - 8:25(8:25/m) 174/176bpm
8) 1m - 9:07(9:07/m) 171/176bpm
9) 1m - 10:30(10:30/m) 162/173bpm
10) 1m - 9:39(9:39/m) 135/154bpm
11) 1m - 9:35(9:35/m) 140/166bpm
12) 1m - 9:31(9:31/m) 166/173bpm
13) 1m - 9:23(9:23/m) 168/178bpm
14) 0.13m - 48(6:18/m) 178/179bpm
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