365 days, 1016 miles...

So, a year of running is over.

After crossing the 1000 mile line a couple of weeks ago I had a full week off running in the week before Christmas, and then clocked up a few leisurely miles in an unusually mild and briefly dry Glasgow on Boxing Day.

A few laps of Dulwich Park on the 29th helped to loosen up the knees after 8 hours in the car driving back from Scotland, and then a lap of the lanes of North Hertfordshire yesterday brought my total up to 1011 miles.

Then today I did a couple of laps of Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage, plus a little extra, to take the run over 5 miles and my total for the year to 1016.03 miles.

Before a rundown of the stats for the year, I want to say a big thankyou to my wife Sophie who, as well as tolerating my running obsession has also probably run at least 800 miles herself this year, ran with me in the Brighton marathon and the New Forest Half, and supported me and took photographs at the other races.

Thankyou also to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Phil and Sally, for all your encouragement and support, and well done to you too for completing your own marathons this year.

Thirdly, a big thank you to Michaela at Practical Action and Ceris at CLIC Sargent for your support, encouragement and T-shirts - and in particular to Michaela for the place in the Royal Parks Half and the great support before, during and after the race.

Fourthly, thanks to my brother for running with me in 10ks in Glasgow and London - look forward to doing the BUPA London 10000 with you in 2012 !

And lastly, but by no means least, thank you to all of the people who have sponsored me this year - with your help I've raised more than £1900 to date for the charities. They, and I, greatly appreciate your support.

And now - for the stats:

Total miles: 1016.03 (2010: 829.29)

Number of runs: 182 (2010: 168)

Average run distance: 5.58 miles (2010: 4.97 miles)

Average miles per day: 2.78 miles (2010: 2.27 miles)

Total time running: 6 days, 17 hours, 43 minutes, 21 seconds (2010: 5 days, 13 hours, 32 minutes, 43 seconds)

Average time per mile: 9 minutes 33 seconds (2010: 9 minutes 40 seconds)

Longest run: 20.01 miles* (2010: 13.1 miles)

Runs of 5km or longer: 172

Runs of 10km or longer: 49

Runs of 10 miles or longer: 18

Runs of 13.1 miles or longer: 8

Runs in Dulwich Park: 60

Runs in Greenwich Park: 31

(* the more diligent blog readers will remember I didn't run the entire distance at the Brighton marathon so my longest run was the 20 mile training run a couple of weeks beforehand)

And a few charts:

What next ? Well, I've signed up for the BUPA London 10000 next year. But no other plans yet. I might do one or two other races later in the year, but I think I'll have a year off from big mileage targets and charity fundraising. And then I might have a go at another marathon in 2013. 

But, for the moment, that's all. Thanks for reading!

Success at the Great Scottish Run

So... not quite a 10k personal best - but very close: 53 minutes 53 seconds.

Obviously it would have been nice to set a new PB, but even though the time was slightly slower than my Hong Kong run last year I think this was probably a better run. I paced myself really well, and the Glasgow course was more hilly than the Hong Kong one, especially at the start. And I managed a negative split and a "sprint finish" - when I got to the 5 mile mark I realised I'd have to really motor for a PB and I gave it a good shot, covering the last 1.2 miles at 8:02 minutes/mile pace. I should have maybe gone a little harder earlier on but it's easy to say that with hindsight.

Overall the race was a real pleasure - well organised, easy to park near the start; lots of toilets; four starting waves giving plenty of space to run, aside for one or two small areas; enthusiastic and friendly support, and, surprisingly for Glasgow, a perfect day - 14 degrees, cool breeze and some early autumn sunshine. Perhaps the only fault I could find was the lack of distance markers - I only spotted two: a sign at 1 mile and a couple of guys with "3" and "K" on their T-shirts.

The course started on George Square and after a short level section climbed for around half a mile up St Vincent Street. Having set off conservatively I was overtaken by loads of people but by the top of the hill I had caught up with many of them, and used the gradient on the other side to gain some of the lost time, completing the first mile in 9:12.

Having crossed the M8 and turned off Argyle Street the route continued downhill on Finnieston Street allowing me to speed up a little, although there was soon another small climb up onto the Kingston Bridge: 2nd mile at 8:47 pace. A great experience to be able to run over a motorway bridge which I've driven over (or been stationary on in traffic) so many times.

Down the other side of the bridge and past Scotland Street school and West Street underground station, the next mile was mostly downhill or level allowing me to speed up further to 8:24 pace. The next couple of miles around the suburban streets of the south side were mostly level but with one short uphill stretch at around mile 4, and I reached the 5 mile point in 43:53.



By my calculations at this point I reckoned a PB of faster than 53:33 was beyond me, but I gave it my best shot, lengthened my stride and with the help of the gradient down through the Gorbals I crossed the river and turned towards Glasgow Green still with some hope.



However the line was just a little too far away and I crossed in 53:53.

My brother had beaten me to the finish but unfortunately not in the way he would have wanted - he walked there having dropped out at around half way with painful calves. I think he'd just been unable to do enough training in the last few weeks. A shame since he's capable of running sub 55 minutes.



We then walked back towards George Square and arrived there just in time to see the start of the Half Marathon at 11am - an impressive sight watching more than 11 000 runners setting off up St Vincent's Street.

So, overall I'm very happy with my run and I think it sets me up well for a good half marathon at the New Forest in 3 weeks' time.

100 mile month

Well 101.64 miles in August actually - good progress and if I continue clocking up miles at my current rate I'll be well over 1000 by the end of the year.

Today I did my final run before Sunday's 10k in Glasgow. Tuesday lunchtime I did just over 5 miles along the Thames, Wednesday night 9 400 metre intervals around Dulwich in the evening, and today 5km at lunchtime along the Thames again. Now time for a "mini-taper" with a couple of days rest before the race.

Lunchtime runs are good from the point of view of getting completely away from your desk, getting some fresh air, and working up an appetite. And it also pays off in the afternoons when I find I'm much more alert than I used to be and don't suffer post-lunch drowsiness the way I used to.

But running in the evening is really nice too - a good way to wind down after work and there's something nice about running laps around the park as the sun goes down (assuming it's not behind clouds as it has been rather often this summer). It's cooler in the evening too which makes for more comfortable running.

So, race day on Sunday and based on my running lately I'm feeling pretty confident. If I can get away from the start without too many hold-ups, and if the weather's reasonable, I should break 55 minutes and it would be great if I could push it a bit and get under 54 minutes. I think the most important thing is that at the end I feel I've done myself justice, something I don't think I did in the marathon and 10k earlier in the year.

So... next post will probably be on Monday night after I get back.

Total for the year now standing at 706.63 miles.

5 laps of Greenwich

Today was the first time I'd done 5 full laps of Greenwich for nearly a year. Felt pretty heavy-legged to begin with but after a couple of laps I started to loosen up a bit and a few jaffa cakes and jelly babies helped to keep me going until the last lap. In fact I felt strong at the end and could have carried on beyond the 11 miles I'd done.

It was a nice day for running, sunny but cool and breezy, and the park was fairly quiet - perhaps a lot of people are out of London due to the bank holiday weekend, or maybe just having a lie-in.

Yesterday I did five laps of Dulwich at my planned race pace of 8 minutes 50. Didn't quite get the pace right as my second lap was 8:30 and then the last couple of miles were a bit of a struggle. But I'm running pretty well, at least as well as I was at this time last summer, and I'm hopeful of a reasonable time in the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow next Sunday. Hopefully sub 55 minutes, maybe sub 54.

I've kept to my training plan pretty well so far - I'm ahead of the mileage but I need to be doing a few more strength and flexibility exercises from here on.

This week I plan to do a couple of midweek runs as normal, a gentle 3 miles on Friday and then rest on Saturday ahead of the race.

Meanwhile, time to get fundraising restarted again.

The Second Half

Back home after a great two weeks in Kefalonia where I broke my promise about not running on holiday (did one early morning 5k jog) but otherwise rested my legs, spent plenty of time in the swimming pool, and generally relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine.

Going back to work was a bit of a shock to the system, and similarly getting back out running meant some stiff and sore muscles this week. But I'm on track with my new training plan, geared towards the New Forest Half and the Royal Parks Half, in September and October respectively. And my brother's signed me up for another 10k, the Great Scottish Run, in Glasgow on 4th September, which will be a nice chance to run a race in my hometown for the first time.

My new routine looks like being lunchtime runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, interval training on Wednesday nights, a long slow run on Saturday and a shorter pace run on Sunday. This week I managed just under 20 miles including 3 fairly leisurely laps of Greenwich today.

So my total for the year now stands at just under 535 miles.