Slack week

Between work/life madness and a minor tweak of an injury this week was a pretty poor showing all round. I did stop it from being a total washout by getting out for a 1:20 run today which I estimate to have been about 11 or 12 Km. I estimate because the battery ran out on the Forerunner (due to my not having charged it!) and me therefore geting a record of the run ;-(

With 6 weeks of "Prep" stage left before the very structured Base phase starts I think I am going to have to build in some structure to the training and also set myself some short and medium term goals to keep me on track.

Overall long term goal is to get weight down to 80Kg and to do the Marathon in 3:30. As a fallback from this ambitious goal I have 82Kg and a 3:45 marathon. What I also need to do is establish some interim targets to act as milestones in my training.

Overall summary for April looks like 110Km of running and about 12 hours of training. Which is not too bad from nearly a standing start!

I got a bit lost...

...if I'm being honest!

Well not lost so much as loseing the trail a bit and not having the courage of my convictions to jump some fences. I set off on a 1:30 mabey 1:45 run, but with the detours and double backs I was out for a bit longer than that. I wasnt really bothered other than the fact that the missus would be getting a bit concerned for my whereabouts.

Total Time (h:m:s) 2:16:39 7:20 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:52:17 6:02 pace
Distance (km) 18.61
Moving Speed (kph) 9.9 avg. 16.1 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +188 / -189
Avg. Heart Rate 148 bpm Zone 2.0
Temperature (°C) 16.5°C avg. 17°C high
Wind Speed ( kph) SW 13.0 avg. SW 14.8 max.



What is clear from the map, and apparent when I got to the back half of the run, is that in the cases where I did double back I had in fact been on course but the fences or general lay of the land deterred me from following my nose (and my map). It was however a really great run across some immacutely well kept estate land.

A spot of exploring

This was an evening run after work, and also after tea (thats dinner to you posh types). As a result the first half of the run felt dreadful. Really bleh! The new route did however distract from the bleh-ness of the experience and once into the run I opened up a bit and was running well by the end.

Total Time (h:m:s) 0:56:15 6:53 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:50:26 6:10 pace
Distance (km) 8.16
Moving Speed (kph) 9.7 avg. 16.4 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +103 / -103
Avg. Heart Rate 148 bpm Zone 2.0
Temperature (C) 13.3C avg. 15C high
Wind Speed ( kph) SSE 11.7 avg. SSE 13.0 max.



Very intresting route bordering one of the local big estates, and really nice to run into the evening and to be out on the trails at dusk.

Nippy Nippy Nooo

It was a bit chilly this morning at 06:00 and me in all my summer gear. There was in fact a light touch of frost and a little bit of morning mist. It all made for a very seanic, if somewhat fresh, dawn run.

Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:45:43 6:02 pace
Distance (km) 7.57
Moving Speed (kph) 9.9 avg. 20.5 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +92 / -92
Avg. Heart Rate 153 bpm Zone 2.9


I put a little extra distance into it this morning as time allowed. But I noticed the heart rate was a bit high when compaired to pace and PE. I am wondering if that isnt due to the small sniffle of a cold I seem to have on the go.

Days of Rest.

Today and yesterday were rest days, which were much needed after the weekend. I felt fairly done in after the run on Sunday. Tomorrow is a run (6 or 7 Km) Thursday strength session and Friday is either an easy bike or a light jog. Saturday I then plan to do an LT test to establish some baseline numbers. On Sunday I plan to take the bike out again for a coulpe of hours. Looking at my first draft of the training calendar I still have a few prep weeks to play with before I get into the structured Base phase. I plan to use it as a light base phase as I am coming back from a long way down the field :-)

The first draft of the training calendar is posted, showing the dates of each training phase.

Tired legs and such.

Aim: Overdistance run maintiained in Zone 1
Originally planed as a 2 hour/18Km run, I changed my route early on as tired legs fatigued feeling and overly fast heart rate were all pointing to the fact that a 2 hour run would not go well and I was feeling the effects of ramping up my training since the start of April.

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:41:20 6:53 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:38:27 6:41 pace
Distance (km) 14.70
Moving Speed (kph) 9.0 avg. 13.3 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +161 / -162
Avg. Heart Rate 146 bpm Zone 1.9
Temperature (C) 17C avg. 19C high

The hot day made for a bit of extra effort also. The run was at a slower pace then the one at Kimbolten but also stayed in the desired heart rate zone. Less fatigued I think that my Zone 1 pace will be quicker. Still a 14.7Km run is still a decent effort. I was also right to shorten my route as I was cream-crackered when I finished (even at this sedate pace)

There was a little too much road work in this alternate route, but it was an ad-hoc selection, so not a surprize it was not ideal. On another note, what a fantastic day weather wise, I really need to sort out a decent camera to pack on these runs.

Strength session

Aim: Strength development of core and abductors plus a bit on chest and arms for general tone.

Session
Warm up:
20 knee blocks
20 knee block + kick
2 X 10 side kicks
General rotations
Reps:
30 raised leg crunches (legs on ball)
2 X 30 sec side plank over ball
30 sit and twist standard situps
2 X 20 side crunches
30 sec front plank over ball
30 crunches on ball
2 X 30 sec side plank over ball
30 sec front plank over ball
30 leg lifts
10 roll ups on ball (ouch)
15 Hyper extensions on ball
2 X 10 press up (feet on ball)
2 X 15 Fly press (7 Kg)
10 "Gull wing" 7Kg per hand
2 X 10 Bicept Curl

Stretch

Overall about 40min.
With perhaps the addition of some shoulder presses this shouls form a good standard set.

Stats:
Weight 86.8
27.5 % Body Fat
27.4 BMI

The apparent slight increase in body fat percent is probably due to changes in my level of hydration and ramp up in excersise volume as much as anything else. Unfortunately I would also say the same for the apparent weight loss.

Lucky Friday Ride

Friday the 13th always bodes well.
Aim of the session was to do a zone 1-E2.1 bike ride as part of my overdistance for the week. The other point of the ride was to bring the Jake on a bit of an offroad blast to get a bit of a grin on.

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:27:43 4:20 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:08:37 3:23 pace
Distance (km) 20.22
Moving Speed (kph) 17.7 avg. 38.7 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +211 / -212
Avg. Heart Rate 128 bpm
Temperature (C) 15C avg. 15C high
Wind Speed ( kph) NE 17.9 avg. NE 18.5 max.

Unfortunately as you can see from the moving time vs total time there was a fair bit of stoppage and the ride was relatively short. This was due to the fact that my main crank bolt kept coming loose and I had to keep stoping to tighten it with improvised tools. The 8mmallen key which would have fixed it in 2 seconds I had just taken out of my bag before I left the house. Well clever!



Nice route though, with a bail out through Ashley and a bit of footpath (with bike on the shoulder) . Also discovered a nice little bit of trail on the old Tetbury-Kemble line. Overall verdict: Not bad for a Friday evening on a school night, and no crashes!

Easy Pace Morning Run

This mornings run was an easy paced out and back with an aim of keeping my heart rate and PE in the Zone 1 and lower Zone 2 region. This was largely achived. This pace I think will be typical of my overdistance pace.

Total Time (h:m:s) 0:40:56 6:28 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:40:12 6:22 pace
Distance (km) 6.31
Moving Speed (kph) 9.4 avg. 20.0 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +80 / -81
Avg. Heart Rate 148 bpm Zone 2.1
Temperature (C) 9 C avg. 9 C high
Wind Speed ( kph) NE 8.3 avg. NE 9.3 max.




The easy nature of the run also seems to have helped loosen out the tightness in my calf which was getting to feel ominous. New shoes were also spot on ;-)

This evening I have used "SERIOUS" to plot out my 24 week training plan in terms of training hours and periodisation. The next job is to work that back into training sessions and a training schedule. I am slightly conflicted as to what intensity to do my overdistance at as there is conflicting advice between doing it in Zone 1 and at the bottom of Zone 2 (which is where I trained at before as a triathlete). Warents further investigation.

New Shoes!!

My old Saucony Hurricane 7's were looking a bit jaded (as in I should have retired them miles ago) so I splashed out and made the bold move to something bright and new. Thats right ...


..Saucony Hurricane 8's. They have recently released the 9 version so I picked the up at 30 quid off.

Today was my rest day.
Morning weight 87.5 Kg (feel the burn?!)

Blast from the past

Found a link in my old training log to the start of my training in 2005. I was a bit of a mess after that Bath Half. Also intresting to note that going on a strict low GI diet resulted in a loss of 4Kg in May! Crikey. I dont anticipate such dramatic results this time round.

06:00 Morning run on the Out'n'back

Aim: Recovery run at an easy pace.
This was my first morning run since the clocks changed and it was to find that the light is good enough (just). The weather was smashing, which always helps.

Total Time (h:m:s) 0:38:54 6:11 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 0:38:22 6:06 pace
Distance (km) 6.28
Moving Speed (kph) 9.8 avg. 14.4 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +81 / -81
Avg. Heart Rate 158 bpm Zone 3.7

Comments: Legs tired for sure. Slight tightness bottom of lower calf.

Core Stability

First core stability (abs and stabs) workout for a while, using the newly aquired swiss ball (£4.99 from Tesco, cant go to far wrong).
Aim: Make a start back on core stability to improve running stance and general condition and reduce injury risk. Try swiss ball and experiment with excersise options.

Warm up and loosening up excersise 5min
Knee blocks (abducter work) 20 per side
Knee block into front kick 20
Side kicks 10 per side.
20 crunches with legs on ball (Mid abs)
20 Sit and twists
Side plank over ball 30 sec per side (hard)
Side crunches 20 per side
Front plank over ball 30 sec
Cross over sits 2 sets of 15
15 leg lifts with ball (not effective)
15 leg lifts
20 body extentions over ball (not effective)
20 rollup (roll from knee to hips over a press up position, very effective)
20 pressups, foot on ball (v-effective)
20 Dumbell flys using ball as bench (effective, need to sort out dumbells)
20 crunches seated on ball (v-effective)

Over all useful little session to explore the possibilities of using the ball, a couple of very effective excersises found. Need to ssort out weights to all more by way of arm chest and back.

Easter Sunday Run

Run out of Kimbolten and offroad to Grafham Water. 8th April 10:00.
Objectives were to get the legs going after a week of rest (post race) and also to clear out the pipes after having a bit of a cold in the mid week. I also wanted to get a feel for pace and heart rate after race in Connemara so I could know how a 5:00, 5:30, 5:45 and 6:00 pace felt to run. Most of the run was at (or just below) race pace effort.

Total Time (h:m:s) 1:26:31 6:07 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 1:24:47 5:59 pace
Distance (km) 14.13
Moving Speed (kph) 10.0 avg. 13.9 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +164 / -164
Avg. Heart Rate 162 bpm
Temperature (C) 11.3C avg. 15C high
Wind Speed ( kph) SW 11.1 avg. SW 14.8 max.



Points of note:

• Marc O's observation regarding my stride length being to short resulting in a cramped style may well be correct. Experimentation with a taller stance and longer stride on the run alloewd a much more fluid generation of pace. Work on drills to open out stride and core stability to help abducters and keep a straight posture.


• Heart rate on the Connemara run was, as suspected, way, way too high. Running at the same pace on this run produced HR of 160 to 170 bpm. This is much more in line with expectation. Something was seriously amiss on the race, I suspect that I was getting some cross talk on the monitor, perhaps as a result of switching it on with a lot of other equipment near by.

Spring Clean (Setting Baseline)

Using all the techno gadgetry available I made some baseline measurements so that I can set up a training program and track my progress over time.

Max HR: 186 BPM
Resting pulse: 54 BPM (logged while having a bit of a lie-in)
Weight : 87.7Kg (Scales 1)
Height: 1.78m
Percent Body Fat: 25.6
BMI: 27.5
Rough estimate of AT 5:00min/Km pace 168 BPM

So according to the numbers I am at the top end of over weight/mildly obese! Which is nice!

Resultant Training Zones:
(Karvonen Method)
HRR: 132
Zone 1: 133 - 146
Zone 2: 147 - 153
Zone 3: 154 - 160
Zone 4: 161 - 173
Zone 5: 174 - 186

Connemarathon

Top Run
Connemara half Marathon run with Marc O. Run goes from Leenaun to Mamm Cross. It was a glorious day, in a glorious setting. Marc and I ran the first half together, but we felt the pace was mis-matched to we split and he pulled ahead of me from the 10.5 Km point. He went on to finish 4 mins ahead of me, but blew on the last mile as he was pushing to go under two hours.

The race features two big-ish hills. The first out of the start and the second (the hell of the west) at the 10 mile point. This is a cruel hill to put in the 23rd mile of a marathon.

Total Time (h:m:s) 2:07:47 5:57 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:06:55 5:55 pace
Distance (km) 21.45
Moving Speed (kph) 10.1 avg. 14.0 max.
Elevation Gain (m) +298 / -270
Avg. Heart Rate 174 bpm Zone 5.4
Temperature (C) 10.5 C avg. 11 C high
Wind Speed ( kph) NE 18.0 avg. NE 22.2 max.



Intresting points:
5:55 min/km pace is not quick enough to keep into Marc, and I really have to train more towards 5 min pace to put in a good marathon time.
Heart rate was screemingly high the whole race, either something was wrong with the heart or with the monitor. I couldnt really beleive the numbers I was seeing so I ran off how I felt. Could have been the heat, but I suspect equipment problems.

Either way the result was this expresion :


Still I felt better than Marc O, particularly on the chaffage front
:-)