Forest Flyer

I have had to move things around a bit this week as we're having our bathroom done and one of the workmen didn't leave until 8:30pm on Wednesday and I was really tired on Thursday after work.  I'm still hoping to get 5 session in this week though, but I wanted 10-11 days between my long run and the next Half Marathon, which won't happen if I do get a long run in on Sunday.

Anyway, I managed to get a number for a local race called the Forest Flyer tonight (Friday) which is a 5-mile race that is part of the Teignbridge Trotters Club Championship.  I'm not doing the Championship, but as my wife wasn't getting back from a trip away until late on Friday I decided to get a run out.  I don't overly like the off road stuff but this was more of a trail race with no large obstacles so the terrain wasn't bad.  There was a very large hill at the end (it lasted 1 mile) which was a killer, but I enjoyed the event.  I won't be sure of my my time until the results are published as I forgot to stop my watch, but it was 38:50ish I think which I'm quite pleased with.

The profile of the event is below.

Torbay 10K, and a bit of a look back over the last 12 months

I got to the Torbay 10K start line in good shape so was raring to go at the 6pm start.  I've done this course a few times before and know there can be a bit of a bottleneck so I stood in the first quarter of the field hoping that would mean I'd have a clear run out, which worked out to be the case.  I also don't feel I held any quicker runners up, so I stood in about the right spot for me I think.  The conditions were good - it was dry, but not too hot and there was a bit of a breeze.  This "bit of a breeze" was a headwind for maybe 1 mile of the course, but it wasn't too bad.

I know the course very well and I had promised myself that I would go out steadily and leave something for a strongish finish and the first mile was done in 7:10, which was actually a bit quicker than I had anticipated but I felt okay.  The second mile includes a reasonable hill but then miles 3, 4 and 5 are basically flat and I had planned to use this part of the course to settle into a rhythm and see how I felt, knowing that the 6th mile includes an  uphill section, before a fast downhill section to the finish.  I was gasping at the end and the last 200m were very hard, but I kept a reasonable pace so I think that means I paced the race well, which I'm pleased about.

Looking back, I think that it all came together and I managed a chip time of 45:31 so I'm pleased.  This isn't a PB (my PB is on an easier course than this), but it is a strong course record as I've knocked over 4 minutes off of the time from last year, which at that point was my PB.  It was after this race last year that I decided to join a running club, and I'm really glad I did.  I'm sure Mo wouldn't do this, but we did have a couple of beers and some pizza to celebrate!

My wife also did great and managed a PB as well, so she was really pleased.

The last 12 months
It was immediately after 2012's Torbay 10K that I decided to join the Teignbridge Trotters and I'm so glad I did.  It feels like the right time to review the last 12 months as I know my running has come on so much, plus I've met loads of people through the Club which is very friendly and welcoming.  My PBs in 10K, Halfs and the marathon have tumbled in the last 12 months, and I've lost about 1.5 stone in weight and about 5% in body fat (according to my scales, which I'm not sure how accurate they are on the body fat %), which has helped as well!

Turning a bit towards my inner geek, Garmin Connect has some reports that can let you analyse lots of things and below are a few highlights .
- In the last year I've done 1564 miles, which is way more than I've ever done and is an average of 30 miles per week, every week.
- This shows I have been very consistent, which I think has been part of the the key and I'm hoping to keep that going, depending on injuries.
- According to my Garmin, I've burned nearly 250,000 calories!  Again, I'm not sure how accurate this is but it's probably in about the right area.  That is a lot of pizza that be consumed to make up for that shortfall....!
- For the majority of the last 12 months, I've done either 4 or 5 runs per week with 4 weeks where I planned only 3 sessions per week before an event.  There are just two exceptions to this.  The first week in January I picked up an injury so only did one session that week and for a holiday in April I only got two sessions in.  I think that is pretty consistent and has definitely helped with my running.

I have no real targets in mind, apart from to keep up the running with the club and to see if I can continue chipping away at those times.  I know I've been really lucky with injures this past 12 months and hopefully that will remain the case.  This time twelve months ago, if anyone asked I wouldn't really have called myself as "a runner".  This year, if anyone asked I do count my self as a runner and I have really got the bug!

One thing I think I need to do is start to become more structured in my training, which I will try and look at before a Spring marathon attempt where I'd like to go sub-4 hours. I think that is my main goal and I think is achievable on the right day.

It was the Men's World Championship Marathon in Moscow yesterday and I watched the whole race.  I was on the look out for Yuki Kawauchi, as he is very popular on Marathon Talk.  He is a 2:08 runner and has a full time job in Japan and he races a lot!  He did get a bit of coverage on the BBC as well.  He didn't do amazingly well (he finished 18th), but it was good to see him.

I mentioned back in June for the Torbay Half that I had arranged to meet an old school friend after the race.  I went out with him and his brother again last night, and it was good to catch up and we were talking about running, triathlons etc.  He was talking about that he has removed most (if not all) sugar from his diet and has seen him times tumble this year.  It's food for thought for me (no pun intended) as I still think I need to lose a few pounds from a running perspective.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had read Chrissie Wellington's (A Life Without Limits) book about Ironman, which was a very good read.  Chrissie raced a lot at the renowned Kona Ironman event, and there are rumours going around the Internet that Gordon Ramsay is doing the event this year.  There are no real reputable sources that I can find (except the Daily Mail, which has delighted in publishing pictures of Ramsay getting changed for a training session, which I'm not going to link to here) but there is a thread on Runner's World about it.  It will be interesting to see if Ramsay does the event, although it seems he hasn't made the qualification time so may have got a place as he is a celebrity.

My wife and I went out for another run this morning around our popular stomping ground of Torquay/Paignton.  We had seen adverts around for a Sky Ride event in Paignton, and it was good to see that it was very well attended.  Basically, a few roads are closed from 10:30am-4pm, and it is an opportunity for people to get out on their bikes in a safe environment.  The event was really well attended which is good to see.  I'm not sure if it's a regular thing, but details of my local event are here.

In Tartiflette we trust!

As I mentioned in my previous blog, we were in Annecy recently.  One of the key, local dishes there is tartiflette which is basically a cheese, ham and potato dish (made with the local reblochon cheese).  We bought a couple of authentic tartiflette dishes and found that do Tesco do the correct cheese so in order to reminisce a bit about our holiday we made the dish tonight.  Not sure what this has to do with running, but it was very nice!

Below is our very nice meal....

On a couple of occasions whilst in Annecy, I saw a sticker on a car or bike as per the below, which made be smile.

Holiday!!

My wife and I have just come back from a great 10-days holiday where we did lots of 'non-running' related stuff and really had a great time away (lots of eating, drinking, relaxing, etc etc).  I did manage to get a few runs in too, so I'm pleased that I manage to keep things ticking over.  My plan purposefully didn't show any sessions whilst away, so I'm happy to have got 5 sessions in totalling around 30 miles.

We travelled down to Annecy on the train from Paris and stayed at the same hotel as the last time we were in Annecy, so settled straight in with the first of many tartiflettes and glasses of wine.

For those that may not know, Annecy is in the Alps and is on a lake that shares the same name. The lake is fantastic and very clean (it is the cleanest lake in Europe).  There is stunning and inspiring scenery and I got three runs in (two 7-milers and one 5-miler), including one with my wife which was great! The photos don't really do it justice, but here are a couple, with the first with me proudly wearing my Trotters shirt!

On another day, we took a walk up into the mountains which was great. There were a handful of runners up there too, but it's not something I'd contemplate as the paths are very steep and narrow!  There were some great views on the way up though, and my Garmin shows that we peaked at over 2200ft which wasn't too bad.

Whilst in Annecy, I took the opportunity to read Chrissie Wellington's 'A life without limits'. Chrissie is a British Ironman competitor and turned professional fairly late (late 20s). It's a great read and charts her progress to various world titles and records in that gruelling sport.

We caught the train back from Annecy to London and headed to York for a few days, again by train. York is a great city with lots of things to do, and the food and beer at very good! I got two runs in along the River Ouze (a 6 and 5-miler) which I enjoyed.  So although I haven't been doing massive mileage I am pleased to have kept things ticking over, and I always enjoy running in new places to keep things fresh.

On the way back from York I started reading the  Brownlees' 'Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story'.  I haven't finished it yet, but it's good so far.

I'm still on holiday from work for the rest of this week, and have a few plans but the full training won't resume until next week.  I need to kick start things for Dartmoor Vale in October.  Logistically it's going to be a bit tough for a week or so as we're getting our bathroom done and we don't have a second loo/shower, so that may prove interesting!

A bit of a disappointing parkrun. There's always another one coming up soon though!

I got a parkrun in on the weekend, but ended up being disappointed with my time of 21:43 (PB on that course is 21:29 from 2 weeks ago).

I was really "up for" the event and had kind of planned the training week to be in fighting form for the Saturday morning, hence why I'm a bit disappointed.  I did 1.5 mile warmup, with some short blasts at my 5K race pace and I toed the start line feeling good.  I don't usually do this type of warm-up but I'm sure the warm-up wasn't the issue for my disappointing time. 

Unfortunately, I did the classic beginner mistake and set off far too quickly and got slower as the event went on.  Splits were 6:31, 7:00, 7:18 and 52secs for the last bit.  I glanced at my watch in the first mile and saw I was doing 5:45 which is just stupid and I basically struggled from then on.  I can't really explain it except to say I got caught up with a bunch of quicker runners in the first half a mile or so and so I didn't run my own event (I'm being careful not to call the parkrun a race....!)

Maybe it's misplaced, but I'm convinced I've got a 20:XX in me, even if it's 20:59 which is what I was hoping for on Saturday as the conditions were perfect and, like I say, I was feeling good.  This would be 6:45 min/mile pace.  I'm basing this on what I can do 5x1K intervals in, with each interval being at 6min/mile, sometimes quicker.  Am I deluded that I think I've got a 20:59 in me?  I hope not!

I'll tell you one thing.  The pain from a fast (for me) 5K is a whole different kind of pain compared to a marathon.  Not worse pain, just different.  I genuinely thought I was going to throw up at the end!

Nevermind - there's always the next one.

This week is a fairly standard week, and it has cooled down.  At the moment though there are some very sharp showers so that may be a shock to the system, but I prefer that to the blazing heat.

20 mile LSR, a personal weekly record and marshalling at the Haytor Heller

Long run, and a bit of a look back over my training
I mentioned on my last update that I was hoping to get an 18-mile LSR done on the weekend, and I'm pleased to say that I actually managed 20 miles.  I started at around 7.30am and it was much cooler and more pleasant than earlier in the week, but I still drank 1.5L of water on the run as well as making sure I was well hydrated before the run!  For long runs, I always run with a 750ml bottle of water/TorQ Energy on a waist belt, and this time I parked my car on the route with another 750ml stored in the cool boot.  It wasn't a particularly inspiring route but I'm pleased I got the miles in.

I was a bit worried about how the long run would go because since my marathon at the start of May, I have only done one 16 miler.  I've done lots of 10-13 mile runs (and lots of shorter runs) but I was getting worried that I wasn't getting in enough long miles.  However, it seems I still have some fitness as the run itself was fine (apart from the amount of water I needed) so I'm pleased.  Also, since the marathon I've been consistent with the sessions I've been going as I've clocked up nearly 350 miles over 48 sessions since 7th May.

The main reason for pushing on from 18-miles to 20-miles was due to the fact that I knew this would take me to a new personal weekly mileage record of 45 miles in a week.  The majority of these miles have been in very hot weather and I am hoping training in the hot weather will stand my in good stead for when the weather starts to cool again.  This was off of 5 sessions a week, which I've now been doing for 4 weeks.  The fifth run per week is effectively the parkrun, which although only 5K is a good run out each week.

Below are my weekly stats since the marathon:

Time Period (w/c)	Number of sessions	Distance	Elapsed time	Calories
15/07/2013	5	45.19	07:45:11	6,288
08/07/2013	5	36.63	05:37:15	5,186
01/07/2013	5	34.04	05:06:00	4,851
24/06/2013	5	32.44	05:11:08	4,652
17/06/2013	4	29.92	04:13:30	4,279
10/06/2013	5	36.18	05:36:59	5,153
03/06/2013	5	38.9	06:19:31	5,524
27/05/2013	3	23	03:28:40	3,521
20/05/2013	4	31.96	05:02:00	4,945
13/05/2013	4	22.37	03:25:19	3,369
06/05/2013	3	14.1	02:15:19	2,183
Summary	48/77	344.75	54:00:53	49,950

I think that is pretty consistent, so I am really pleased with that.  The two "3-sessions per week" weeks are due to a) the week after the marathon where I reduced the mileage and did a recovery week and b) a holiday week, where I was just pleased to get any running in at all.  The w/c 17th June wasn't 5 sessions because that was the week of the Torbay Half Marathon where I had a lighter week in the run up to that event.  I've included the "Calories" column just as a matter of interest really, as I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but it is interesting non-the-less.

There are two things that I think I need to work on, or at least keep in mind, in the run up to the October marathon I have lined up.  Firstly, I need to incorporate some hill training as part of my longer runs.  This is because the Dartmoor Vale marathon is quite "lumpy".  I am hoping that after the summer season is out of the way I will be able to get a long to a few Trotter weekend social runs where there are often some hills thrown into those sessions.

Secondly, I am aware I haven't really been doing enough speed work.  This is at least partly due to the hotter weather, where it's harder to get the speed in without feeling quickly drained.  On the positive though, I am at least getting a parkrun in which is a good, quick run out and they are enjoyable too.

Haytor Heller marshalling
The other thing I mentioned in my previous post is that I was marshalling at the Haytor Heller, which is put on by my running club (Teignbridge Trotters).  It was a brilliant event in hot weather, and it's great to be a very small part of the running of these events.  The winner again did the event in under 40-mins which is just mind boggling and equates to around 6.5min/miles on what is very tough terrain.

I had a great marshalling point which was in a shaded area where the runners come down a path, over an old granite bridge and disappear up through the trees before a very steep incline.  After the event, I went back to race HQ where I had my complementary burger which went down very well indeed!

A hot week!

Everyone is enjoying the prolonged nice weather, including myself.  However, it's not good for running, but I'm doing my best to keep going.  I'm drinking plenty of water each day and I've completed each session so far this week.

Wednesday, was the "reccy run" of the Haytor Heller event which is put on by Teignbridge Trotters.  It's 6 miles on a tough trail course; I would say it's unrunnable for large parts of it, with large boulders/stones, very steep inclines/declines, a small river crossing etc.  However, I had a look at the course record, and it is under 40mins, which is actually quicker than I can run 6 miles on a nice, flat tarmac course which is a bit humbling.  The group that I was in ended up being the middle group, and we did stop a few times to let people catch up etc, but we took 90 minutes to do the course!  This was on a pleasant, dry evening, if a bit hot.  I can imagine it would have easily been 30mins longer if it had been raining heavily.

Generally, I don't like the offroad stuff but I did enjoy it last night even though it was very much a shuffle/walk/climb strategy that I adopted.  It was made even better that we all ended up at a hotel owned by a fellow Trotter near Haytor, which we had a meal and a couple of shandies.

I'm marshaling the event on Saturday so I hope I don't send the lead runners off in the wrong direction!  I can imagine it would very easy to do in the middle of nowhere on Dartmoor....  Below is the trace of my "reccy run".  The trace has gone wrong slightly, as the straight line shouldn't be there and is from the end of the route back to the hotel.

Thursday I did a 10-miler after work and it was extremely hot, but I'm pleased I got the miles in.  Also, I happened to find a crispy fiver on the floor, which helped give be a boost!  Tomorrow I'm planning a parkrun (plus the marshalling duties) and then I'm hoping to 18 on Sunday. I think the only way I'm going to get 18 in is if I get up early on the morning when it'll hopefully be cooler, so we'll see how that works out!

parkrun PB, plus a busy week planned.

I mentioned in a recent post that Barnstaple parkrun looked flat and fast.  My wife and I fancied a weekend away and we like the North Devon area so we decided to book into a hotel in Barnstaple with a view of doing the parkrun on the Saturday AM and relaxing the rest of the weekend.

I mentioned in that post that I thought Barnstaple would be fast and mentioned getting a 20.xx time.  Unfortunately, I was some way off of getting this time but I did manage a PB of 21:29.  It was only a 3-second PB, but it still counts.  It's interesting though as I genuinely though that Barnstaple would be significantly quicker than Killerton but it turns out I was wrong.

The splits were:

1 6:39.3
2 6:48.8
3 7:01.2
3.14 1:00.2 (Avg Pace: 7:04), with an overall average pace of 6:49.

Disappointingly, you can see that my second and third miles were significantly slower than the first mile, so there is something to work on there.  I would definitely do the Barnstaple parkrun again though, and I hope to keep chipping away at my time to see if can get that elusive 20.xx time.  To do that, I need to average around 06:45 for the 5K, although Barnstaple was very slightly long (according to my Garmin) which could be a slight issue for me.

Moving on to this week, I have got a slightly unusual week planned.  I am marshalling at a club event (the Haytor Heller) on Saturday and there is a "reccie run" on Wednesday which I am attending also, so I'll be doing 6-7 miles around Dartmoor on Wednesday evening.  It should be good, but I expect it's going to be quite hot and I don't love the off road stuff.  A fellow member owns a hotel near Haytor so we'll be going back to there for some food afterwards.

Other than that, I have the usual mix of  sessions planned with an 18 miler planned for the weekend.  We'll see how that goes, as I haven't really been enjoying this warmer weather from a running point of view.

5x1K session

I was due to do a 5x1K session with the club last night, but there was a last minute of change of training route to one I don't especially like, so I decided to do my own session on a course I know.  I did a 5x1K session by myself with plenty of recovery in between (plus 2 mile w/u and 2 mile c/d).  It had cooled a bit, but it was a tough session and the stats for the efforts were:


Time         Av pace
4:09.7       6:41
3:58.0       6:25
3:56.4       6:21
3:54.5       6:18
3:59.7       6:23, which is an average pace for the 1K efforts of 6:25.

I'm relatively pleased with that as I felt strong on the run, but also disheartened as I did the same session on the same route (the only difference being that it was with the Club and not by myself) back in March and the average pace then was more or less the same (6.24), so I seem to have plateued a bit

Looking back through my training log, I'm pleased that I've kept the consistency going with a mixture of LSRs, speed sessions etc (I've done 300 miles since my marathon at the start of May, covering 41 training sessions) but it seems I need to tweak something if I want to improve.  Not sure what yet though....

Rest day for me today as I've ran 3 days in a row this week.

parkrun PB and some inspiration

My wife and I went and did a parkrun on the weekend, and we both got PBs which is great.  I finished in 21:32 and was 27/142 with an age grading of 62% which I'm really pleased with.  This time is nearly 90seconds quicker than my first attempt on 8th June and nearly 30 seconds quicker than my previous official PB of 22:05 on 15th June.  I do have my eye on getting a 20.xx as I think I should be able to do that on a flat course, and I under Barnstaple parkrun is flat so I'm thinking of heading there soon to see what I can do there.

I have recently finished a great book; Running with Kenyans, by Adharanand Finn.  It is a great book, but I wanted to blog about one particular section.  I know that runners are often asked "Why do you do it?"or "What's the point?" and I think a couple of paragraphs in one section of Finn's book really stand out for me to help explain this.

"As humans, on a basic level, we get hungry, we sleep, we yearn for love, we run.  Just watch small children left unsupervised to play.  They can't stop running.  It is part of what makes us human."

I'm not sure if I should directly quote much more but it is a great book, and Finn was interviewed over two recent episodes of marathonTALK which I also think is definitely worth a listen.

A bit of an update

I haven't posted since my win over my sister-in-law in the Torbay Half Marathon, but I've been keeping the training going.

I did a parkrun (my 3rd, at Killerton) on Saturday and went for a medium long run with a couple of club mates on the Sunday which helped me towards a weekly mileage of 32.44 over 5 sessions following the half marathon.  This was about 5 miles down on my original weekly plan, but I was feeling quite tired last week so decided not to do the planned 15 LSR but settled for around 10 instead.

This week I've got around 40 miles planned including an 18 mile LSR, but I'll see how that goes.  I did a 6 mile easy run yesterday and felt fine, and today I've got an 8 mile with 5 at half marathon pace planned.

For the run up to the Dartmoor Vale marathon I was looking around for a fast half marathon and have settled on Bridgwater Half Marathon in September.   It's not the best timing as it's a bit too far away from the Dartmoor Vale marathon but it will be a good test to see where I am with my fitness and general speed.  Looking at the course profile (although the course has changed since last year) I will be looking for a PB, but as always, it depends on so many things leading up to the event as well as what happens on the day itself.

My wife and I are also looking at doing an "away" parkrun and may travel up to Barnstaple for a couple of nights.  Barnstaple is where we visited prior to my PB at Bideford half marathon but I expect I won't be quite as careful regarding food (and, importantly, drink!) for a 5K.  We happen to know of a decent cocktail place in Barnstaple where I hope to be sampling a few drinks on the Saturday evening.

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!

2nd parkrun (and the small matter of registering for my second marathon this year).

This morning I got my second parkrun in as many weeks competed, and I'm pleased to say I trimmed nearly a minute off the time from last week on the same Killerton course.  The time this week was 22:05.  Looking at the results for the event (I'm told I mustn't call the parkruns  races....) I noticed that there were 14 SM 35-39 (my age category) and I finished in 5th place so I'm quite pleased with that really.  Overall I was 36/174.

The fact that I had completed the course last week really helped.  I purposefully stood closer to the start line so I didn't get held up as much as last week in the first few hundred metres.  Also, knowing the profile of the course help and I ran quite a good race I think, although I did tire in from about 2.5 miles.  I don't think I could have gone any quicker today, so I'm pleased with this as a realistic time and it gives me something to aim for now.  It was also great as my wife came along for her first parkrun and came second out of six in her age category, in a time of 25:25.

Oh, and I've entered my second marathon of the year.  I entered yesterday evening and I'm in for the Dartmoor Vale Marathon in October.  The course is very local to me, so although it is a tough course and a potentially demoralising race as it's a two-lap course, I decided to give it a go.  I need to get some hill training in though; the below is a the profile of the half marathon from when I did the race last year.  The full marathon is more or less two lots of this route, apart from the last mile or so which splits off towards the finish.  The section where it rises from 200ft to about 480ft in about mile is particularly tough.

Autumn marathon?

I did a 13 mile LSR last night; it was supposed to be 14 miles, but I somehow miscalculated the route and only noticed when I got home!  Anyway, it ended up being 11 miles at 10min/mile pace and then for the last two I purposefully stepped it up and did them in 7:40 and 7:31, which I was really pleased with.  I was tired at the end, but felt good.


Part of my LSR yesterday included a loop of the Torbay route.  Before I joined Teignbridge Trotters the vast majority of my training was on that route.  I used to park at a leisure centre as I was a gym member (I've since ditched the membership) and run from there.  I think a relatively large number of Teignbridge Trotters are invading Torbay again for the Half.  Last time I checked I think there were 30-odd Trotters entered so it should be a good event.

I'm planning a slow 6-8 tonight after work, and then hoping to get to a parkrun tomorrow for the second time in two weeks (my first ever parkrun was last week).

I've found myself looking at other marathons.  I was very tempted with Florence marathon in November as I know a couple of people who are doing it.  It looks a great place, but I can't really justify the time off work for it and flying out Friday and back Monday would mean two days off work, and being a teacher my wife couldn't come either.  So looking at UK ones I looked at Bournemouth but at 50 quid, that's a rip off so I'm definitely not doing that!  Isle of Wight looks interesting, but I hear they sometimes get traffic issues getting over and back.  Therefore, top contenders at the moment are New Forest in September or Dartmoor Vale in October.  I fancy the New Forest one as it gets good reviews, but timing/training wise it may be a few weeks too early.  Dartmoor Vale is local to me so logistically is much easier, but there's a massive hill on the course.  I have done the Dartmoor Vale Half a couple of times which means for the marathon course I'd have to do the hill twice, so not sure on that.  On the halfs I've done I remember thinking "Hmmm, I couldn't face doing this course twice!".

I've got plenty of time to book something, but it's strange I find myself looking at another one now.  After my marathon in May I had told myself I wouldn't look to do another one until next year but I find myself researching ones for this year anyway...

A couple of interesting sessions

I was really pleased with the session I did yesterday.  It's an 8-mile route where I do 2 miles warmup, 5 miles at quicker than half marathon race pace and then 1 mile warm down.  It was a lot cooler yesterday than it was on the weekend and for the 5-mile block I managed 7:28, 7:26, 7:18, 7:15, 7:24 which is an average of 7:22.  One week earlier, on more or less the same course when it was hotter I only managed 7:50, 7:39, 7:40, 7:36, 7:45 which is an average of 7:42.  I'm really pleased with that and I now have a bit more confidence going into the Torbay Half, as long as it remains cool.

On the Shades thread on Runner's World there is currently a lot of talk about Base Training (BT).  There are various methods of doing BT but the simplest seems to be the Maffetone method of building a good aerobic base, based on a heart rate that is the Maximum Aerobic Function (MAF).  Someone on the thread has seen some great results from this.  When he started, he could run at 12 min/mile at his MAF of 142bpm.  After sometime, at the same 142bpm he was running 8:30 min/miles, so it means that he was going a lot quicker for the same level of exertion.

From the Maffetone site:

To find your maximum aerobic training heart rate, there are two important steps. First, subtract your age from 180. Next, find the best category for your present state of fitness and health, and make the appropriate adjustments: 

1. Subtract your age from 180. 

2. Modify this number by selecting among the following categories the one that best matches your fitness and health profile: 

a. If you have or are recovering from a major illness (heart disease, any operation or hospital stay, etc.) or are on any regular medication, subtract an additional 10.  

b. If you are injured, have regressed in training or competition, get more than two colds or bouts of flu per year, have allergies or asthma, or if you have been inconsistent or are just getting back into training, subtract an additional 5. 

c. If you have been training consistently (at least four times weekly) for up to two years without any of the problems just mentioned, keep the number (180–age) the same. 

d. If you have been training for more than two years without any of the problems listed above, and have made progress in competition without injury, add 5.

So, for me I'm 37.  I don't have any injury and I more less fall into section 2)c).  Therefore, 180-37 gives me a MAF of 143, meaning my MAF zone for base training is between 133 and 143 BMP.   This means that all training should be done between these zones (without exception), which equates to quite a low heart rate for most people which can be off-putting as the pace is slow.

There is more about this here and a good blog post from an ultra runner here.

Anyway, I had an easy 5-miler planned today and I thought I'd give it a go to see what pace I'd be running at if I did try BT.  I'm afraid I didn't manage to stay in the 133-143 range for the whole run but I was relatively pleased.  A screenshot of my HR together with the route elevation is:

You can see I started off too quickly but got into the routine okay.  The average for the run was 143, so I was relatively pleased.

I'm not committing to doing this yet as it means lots of slow miles for a period of several weeks but it's interesting doing a quick test to see what it's all about.   To be honest, I'm not sure if I have the patience for it but I'll definitely be keeping it mind.

First 5K parkrun, plus MFP.

I'm pleased to say I did my first parkrun yesterday, and it was really good.  I've heard lots of good things about it through my club, and also they are very popular on Marathon Talk, so I thought I'd give one a go.  My nearest one is the Killerton parkrun near Exeter.

For those who don't know, there are various parkruns that are run every Saturday in locations all of the UK (and the world, in fact).  It's a free, timed event and it's really well organised.  Basically, as a runner you register on the parkrun website and you get allocated a bar code.  This bar code is personal to you and to get your results display on the parkrun website against your name, all you have to do make sure you take this bar code with you each time you run any parkrun.  Many people print out and laminate their codes, so I did the same.  At the end of the event, you also get given a timing token.  This timing token, together with your barcode, is what the organisers use to display your results.  After the first time registration you can just turn up to any parkrun that is being ran across the country on any weekend.  Even if you don't have your barcode, you can still run but your name will not be present in the event results - against your position there will be a name of "unknown", with no time present.

Anyway, back to my parkrun.  Killerton itself is a National Trust site so has all the facilities available with ample free parking, toilets and a cafe for after the run.  The Killerton course itself is mixed terrain with some inclines, but it's a nice pleasant course.  I got around in 23:01 (parkrun send a text an email with your results) which I was pleased with, especially as I had completed a 16-mile LSR the night before.  It's something to aim for anyway, as I'm sure I can knock a few seconds off of that based on my 43:40 10K PB.

I will definitely be doing the event again.  It's just a shame it's 25 miles from my house as it's a bit of a drive to get to for just a 5K.  If there was one nearer I would definitely look to do them more regularly.

The other reason I snuck this session into the week's plan is because it meant that this week I have completed 5 training sessions, which (apart from the December running streak, which doesn't really count) is only the second time I've done that.  I ran nearly 39 miles (38.91) this week which is the biggest weekly mileage since training for my marathon.

I mentioned the 16-mile LSR I did on the Friday.  I did this after work, and it was very hot.  I purposefully kept this at my LSR pace (10 - 10.5 min/mile) but intended to try and run a couple of miles towards the end at my half marathon target pace (8 min/mile) but I struggled, partly due to the heat.  This isn't a good sign for Torbay Half in a couple of weeks, but I'll give it my best shot on the day.

I've also been using MFP for the whole week, and I've been honest with what I've consumed and exercised.  I need to average 1800 calories per day to lose 1 pound a week.  I've decided to take an average of the calories over the week (MFP provides facilities to track calories over a week), as this helps average out any days where more food is needed (i.e., on an LSR).  I think for this week I am just about going to be under the target across the whole week, even taking into account that I went to a beer festival yesterday, which isn't the best way to keep a track of calories and eat healthily!  Still, I enjoyed the festival and didn't eat or drink a huge amount and even with the beer festival I'm going to be close to the required calories over the course of a week.  I'm going to keep MFP going and see how I get on over the next few weeks.

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.

A great holiday!

My wife and I got back from a great holiday yesterday, where we packed a fair bit in but also got some time to relax and forget about work for a few days.  We went to a comedy show on the Friday (Jack Dee), a wedding reception on the Saturday evening and went so see Muse in London on the Sunday.  On the Monday we went to York for three nights, before travelling to Birmingham for one night and then travelled home yesterday.


For the first time ever whilst away on holiday I did some running!  I got a 6-miler in on a loop around the River Ouze in York and then a 6-miler along some canal paths in Birmingham in the morning.  So not massive mileage, but I feel I've kept things ticking over which is nice.  I'm pleased to say that although I enjoyed my holiday and ate/drank what I wanted to I only put a couple of pounds on.

The run along the canal in Birmingham was particularly good.  It's great having all those waterways within a stone's throw of the city centre.  York is very nice too....so much so that I'm considering the York Marathon next year, if I can get a place.  It sold out very quicly this year.

If you do ever find yourself in York, I can highly recommend a place called Betty's Tearooms.  It was my wedding anniversary whilst in York and we went to Betty's for an Afternoon Tea (we splashed out on champagne as well), and it was fantastic!  http://www.bettys.co.uk/bettys_york.aspx  I must admit I hadn't heard of Betty's before, but I do believe it is quite famous.  They were certainly doing a roaring trade with a queue out the door for most of the days we were there and the quality of the food and service etc was second-to-none.  As well as that, I sampled a good few York ales at various pubs around the city and there are some great places to eat and drink, as well as lots of stuff to do whilst there.

Also, this morning I marshalled at my first ever event.  My running club (Teignbridge Trotters) hold several races a year and this morning was the club's flagship event.  It's known as the Dartmoor Discovery and is a 32-mile event around the roads of Dartmoor.  The event itself is quite tough, with a few big hills to content with.

Having never marshalled before I was a bit nervous and my station was in the town of Ashburton.  Ashburton isn't what you'd call a busy town, but my station was on a road junction with a car park so I was pretty active ensuring cars stopped to let the runners through.  It all went off with no issues, and the organisers provided all marshals with a packed lunch which was great.  I was also able to keep an eye out for my fellow club members who were running the event and cheered them all on.

Back into the swing of things

I seem to be back in the swing of things training-wise.  This week I've done 4 sessions totalling 32 miles, and have done a mix of sessions.

I am a bit concerned that I've lost some pace though.

On Wednesday, I did a club session which was 5x1k loops.  It was on a trail as opposed to road, but the splits were slower than my best.

On Wednesday they were:
- 4:38, 4:29, 4:31, 4:39, 4:31

A few weeks ago on 13th March on a flat road course they were:
- 4:14, 4:15, 4:08, 4:09, 4:03, so you can see I've slowed considerably, even taking into account the session this week was on a trail!  This isn't good news and I just hope I get the pace back before my half marathon in June.

Also, I did an 8-mile run with 5 at half-marathon pace and it was extremely tough.  The 5 mile block was done in:
- 7:57, 7:57, 7:44, 7:34, 7:36, which is more or less what I need to do for 13.1 mile in only 4 weeks time.  At the moment it doesn't seem likely.

On a positive, I today got a good 12 mile LSR in, with the last two miles at 8min/mile pace and I enjoyed the run and generally felt fine.