Torbay Half Marathon completed in 1:43:36

I'm really pleased to say that I completed the Torbay Half Marathon yesterday in a course record time of 1:43:36.  I'm happy with this time as it is a strong course record for me with my previous best on this course being 1:55:16 from 2007.  Also, last year I struggled around in 2:00:16 so this is nearly 17 minutes quicker (i.e., about 1min 20seconds per mile, which is quite a big improvement).

It was a great race for many reasons:

• As well as me running the event, my wife, sister-in-law and my father-in-law were all running the race and we all finished the event being really happy with our respective times.
• It was the first relatively large event that I ran where a large number of club mates were also participating.  About 40 Teignbridge Trotters did the event and there were lots of other Trotters out on the course cheering everyone on, which was great and really added to the atmosphere.
• Prior to the race I had arranged to meet up with an old school friend and his brother.  I hadn't seen the school mate for probably nearly 20 years, although I do see his brother occasionally when I'm out running.  It was great to meet up for a couple of beers after the race with them and hopefully we'll do it again soon.

I'm skirting around the subject, but as I mentioned in a previous post I wanted to do well in this event and I wanted to beat my sister-in-law.  We had a bet on which said the loser would buy a round of drinks after the race and  I'm pleased to say that I managed to beat her (it could be said that I annihilated her...) quite comfortably with my 1:43:36 against her 1:48:19.  This is the first time I've managed to beat her and it's good that her time of 1:48 would previously comfortably have been good enough, so it does show that my training is paying off.  She did really well too though, and she's already challenged me for a rematch on this course next year.

In terms of the preparation for the event, I think I learned a few things from it.  I have tracked my calorie intake in the run up to the event on MFP and although it was (obviously) way over for the days prior to the event I felt more prepared for an event than ever before.  Basically, if I was hungry I ate more or less what I wanted, with the focus on carbs.  For example, on Saturday afternoon I found myself feeling peckish and even though it was only a couple of hours until our evening meal I bought a large cheese baguette.  I think this mentality and approach really helped.

Also, the event itself went well.  The splits for the event were 8:20, 8:05, 7:53, 7:43, 7:48, 8:01, 7:37, 7:49, 7:48, 7:39, 7:43, 8:28, 7:39.  It was a slow first mile as it always tends to be at these relatively big events (1500+ finishers) but this suits me really as it forces me to start off steadily.  The 8:28 for the 12th mile is due to a hill so although it may look like I was drastically tiring there, the hill is the reason.  Looking at the Garmin I negative split by about 20 seconds so I'm pleased with that too!

Weather conditions were more or less perfect I'd say as it was cool with a bit of drizzle in the air for some of it.  For about 2 miles (2 lots of 1 mile from Torquay back towards Paignton) there was a bit of a headwind but it was manageable.

It's unfortunate that it's not a PB (1:42:02 at Bideford from March is my PB) but I'm still really pleased as I think Torbay is a tougher course.  Yesterday was the end of the the first week of my Autumn marathon training plan, so I'm starting in good shape for that I hope.

So, all in all, a great event...made even better by me getting a couple of cheeky beers in at my SiL's expense!

MyFitnessPal and running

I had a great holiday and I am pleased to say that I came back from holiday only 2 pounds heavier than when I left, which is a first!  Also, I've been getting some runs in and I'm feeling pretty good.

In the build up to the marathon training, from a weight point of view I briefly went down to 12st10 but settled at around 13st in the training and that is the weight I ran the marathon in.

So, turning on to the next challenges with my running, I think I need to see if I can drop a bit more weight.  I'm pleased with my weight for everyday things but think I could drop some more to help with my running.  I've read that for every extra pound of fat you carrying you can shave 1min 35secs off a marathon time, which is quite significant.  Plus there are other benefits in terms of less stress on joints etc.

I have therefore started using MyFitnessPal (MFP).  I have had an account for a long time, but I never really got into it.  However, I can see why lots of people use it, including a couple of people from the running club.  Personally, I won't really use the "social" side of the app/site because it's more aimed at people who are overweight whereas I know I'm not overweight for normal activities.


In terms of a weight target, I'm looking at 12st7, but that is going to be difficult to get to.  I think getting from 14st to 13st will prove to have been easier than getting from 13st to 12st7!  Also, I am in the "healthy" BMI range, but I'm in the top third of that range.  The thing with BMI is that is a very wide range.  For me it is a range of 10.5stone to just over 14stone!  I know that 10.5 stone is way too light for me but 12st7 is in the middle which is partly why I've chosen that figure.  Being realistic though, I will be happy to get back to 12st10 and then reassess from there.

Today is the third day of using the app and site and it is good:
- it allows you to scan barcodes in and tell it the portion size for a meal.  I haven't yet found a barcode that it hasn't found the item for.
- for popular/regular meals you can group items together and name them.  This helps to easily/simply add a meal with one or two clicks rather than adding each ingredient/part of the meal individually.  So, if you regularly have, say, shredded wheat, milk and sultanas for breakfast you can set this up as a meal and easily add it each day.
- it has a mechanism of storing calories burned through exercise, which in practice means that you can safely eat more to offset the exercise.

For me, I started this at 13st2.  With a target weight of 12st 7 and a target weight loss of 1lb per week it says I should consume no more than 1810 calories per day.  This isn't very many, but is manageable, certainly with regular exercise.

For example, here are the stats from yesterday:
- Breakfast.  319 calories.
- Lunch.  584 calories
- Dinner.  803 calories
- Snacks.  570 calories

This is a total of 2276 calories through food.  However, I did a slow 5-miler yesterday and burnt 708 through exercise taking me to 1568 net calories consumed which is below my 1810 target.

I'll see how I get on with it over the next few days, but I think the good thing with it is that it makes you stop and think before consuming things absent-mindedly.  For example, I usually have a pint of milk with my breakfast, which isn't really needed.  "Only" having a half of pint of saves nearly 140 calories but makes no difference to me feeling hungry etc.