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!

Schoolboy error

Back from the New Forest Half Marathon and a(nother) disappointing time: 2 hours 9 minutes 10 seconds. Ten minutes slower than last year and nearly fifteen minutes slower than my target.

What went wrong ? Well, a few things, but mainly I set off too fast, using up too much energy in the first half and not keeping enough in reserve for the way back, and in the end I had several spells of walking before I got to the finish.

Looking at my stats for the first 5 miles shows the problem:
mile 1: 9m17s, avg HR: 149 bpm
mile 2: 8m52s, avg HR: 162 bpm
mile 3: 8m44s, avg HR: 168 bpm
mile 4: 8m51s, avg HR: 169 bpm
mile 5: 9m11s, avg HR: 175 bpm

While the times don't look unreasonable, the heart rate gives it away. In a previous 11 mile training run around Greenwich I averaged 157 bpm, and a comfortable range for easy running for me is 160-165 bpm. That steady rise towards 175bpm was unsustainable given the conditions and terrain, and sure enough shortly after the 10k mark I was walking, and did so twice more before running the majority of the (downhill) last three miles to the finish.

Aside from going off too fast, I think was a bit dehydrated - it was a hotter day than last year, and while I drank at all of the early water stations it probably wasn't enough. And - I'm clearly not as fit as I was at the same time last year. While I might be running plenty of miles along the Thames at lunchtime, last year I was running more hilly routes midweek, and was doing long runs more consistently.

So a rather disappointing day from a time point of view - the slowest of my three half marathons in fact. But at least my average pace was quicker than 10 minute miles (9:51) and it was still an enjoyable day - very friendly and amiable runners, beautiful scenery, enthusiastic supporters and well organised and marshalled. And Sophie, Sally and Phil all successfully completed the race, Sally in a new PB.

Due to the rules of my challenge, I can't claim the full 13.1 miles towards my challenge total, but any continuous run more than 1 mile counts, so according to my Garmin that means 6.12 + 1.24 + 1.25 + 1.53 + 1.71 miles, a total of 11.85 miles, bringing my total for the year to 787 miles.

Next race stop: the Royal Parks. A flatter course, and hopefully more sensible pacing and a better time...

Tapering and targets

One week today I'll have completed the New Forest Half Marathon and will be looking forward to a day or two off running.

My "taper" towards the race started today with a shorter than usual three mile run around Dulwich at race pace. Well faster than race pace as it turned out - I'm aiming to run the New Forest at 8:50 per mile pace but stormed around the park in 8:32 pace today. Not sure I could keep that pace up for much longer but it felt good. One of these days I should sign up for a 5k race since my PB at that distance is rather pedestrian.

The tapering plan for the week involves a 4 mile run on Tuesday, 30 minute tempo run on Wedneday and a 2 mile run on Thursday, followed by rest until race day next Sunday.

Last weekend I was away for the weekend in Derbyshire but I managed to fit in a 12 mile run around Dulwich on the Friday, thinking I might not get much exercise over the weekend. As it turned out we went for a 15 mile walk on the Saturday, followed by a large alcoholic dinner, so I felt pretty sluggish at the beginning of the week, and in fact yesterday's 12 mile run around Greenwich didn't feel great. But hopefully by next weekend with less running, less alcohol and more rest I'll be in good shape to run well.

Targets for the New Forest ?
1. Finishing
2. Running all the way
3. Beat 2 hours
4. Beat last year's time (1:59:31)
5. Faster than 9 minute miles (1:57:48)
5. Faster than 1:55:0 (8:46 minute miles)

My total for the year now stands at a very healthy 768 miles.

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.