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.

Weekend off

We were away househunting last weekend and I managed to leave my running shorts at home. Rather than run around Stevenage in my underpants to complete the 7 miles on my plan I decided just to have a weekend off. I've been pretty conscientious about following my plan lately and I am supposed to have a bit of a rest every 3 weeks, so I didn't feel too guilty about it.

In fact having compared my pace this summer to last summer, I'm averaging 30 seconds faster per mile in training, so I'm hoping that will translate to faster times than last autumn in the upcoming half marathons.


I was back out running on the Thames on Tuesday lunchtime where I ran to St Catherine's Dock and back at lunchtime, nearly 6 miles. A bit further than I planned to due to a bit of a miscalculation on the outward leg! And on Wednesday night I completed my eight 400 metre intervals around Dulwich after work. Wednesday night seems to be club runners night and there were quiet a few Dulwich runners doing laps of the park as the light faded.

UPDATED - Saturday 20th August

Yesterday I had a day off and the car was due in the garage for a repair so I postponed my usual Thursday run to Friday and ran back the 3.25 miles from the garage (a good example of how you can fit running into your day regardless of how busy you are - if you just think creatively and plan ahead a little).

Today I planned to do 5 laps of Greenwich for 10 miles. I managed four laps ok but running down the hill on the fifth lap I started to get cramp in my hamstring. I was feeling a little bloated and sluggish so I decided against trying to run up the hill a fifth time. However I still managed 9.5 miles, keeping me ahead of my training plan.

There was a British Heart Foundation charity run in progress in the park today so the paths were full of red T-shirted joggers and walkers. For many of them I'm sure it was their first run, and many of them probably think they're slow and unfit - but to their credit they were out in the park getting exercise and raising money, putting them well ahead of many others who spent their Saturday morning in bed or watching telly.

My Garmin Forerunner suffered a bit of a gremlin today - it wouldn't switch on at all, or recharge when plugged into the laptop at home. I figured I'd use my mobile phone lap timer but it managed to reset itself sometime during the first lap. So I don't know my time for today's run. But maybe it's a good thing to forget about the clock once in a while and just run.

(I discovered via t'interweb that a certain combination of button pressing resets the Garmin and it's now back in operation).

Plan for tomorrow: 4 miles around Dulwich at planned race pace (which means 8:50 miles).

My total for August now stands at 58 miles and for the year, almost 660 miles. Still on target.

100 runs, 600 miles

A nice landmark to end July - my one hundredth run of the year and it took me past a total of 600 miles for the year.

So, nicely on target and my training for the upcoming races is going well.

While I was running laps around Dulwich today I (gradually) overtook another runner who then speeded up to catch up with me... I thought he might be one of those slighly annoying people who doesn't run an even pace, or doesn't like to be overtaken, and continually speeds up and slows down (often they're wearing headphones and a music player, and often they're breathing louder than they realise).

However this chap was actually looking for advice on what pace he was running. Of course I was happy to help, and it transpired he'd only just started running outside and was trying to find out what was a comfortable pace for him. But it felt strange to be seen as the "experienced runner" when less than four years ago I couldn't run half a mile without stopping. It's actually happened a couple of other times recently, when I've been wearing my "MK Half" T-shirt and people were looking for some advice about the course.

On Saturday I did four full laps of Greenwich - it's the first time I've run up the hill four times this year (in all of my marathon training back in the spring I mostly ran on the level due to my sore knee, probably a contributory factor to running out of fitness on marathon day). Feels good to be getting some of my old fitness back.

So, 86.8 miles in July, and 601.89 miles overall.

More speedwork

Another good week's running this week, totalling 21.67 miles, including some more interval training at Dulwich on Wednesday. Speedwork is exhausting but it's the best preparation if I'm going to improve my 10k and half marathon PBs in the upcoming races.

This weekend we were in Hertfordshire so for a change my long slow run was around Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage. The altitude during a lap varies by about 25 metres, about the same as Greenwich, but it's a different sort of challenge - more constant up and down, whereas Greenwich is on two levels, mostly flat but with two shorter, steeper hills. So Fairlands is probably closer to the terrain for a typical road race.

Total for the year now stands at 578.3 miles.

Speeding up

The first half of this challenge was mainly about running slowly for a long time. With a 10k and two half marathons coming up, my training for the next ten weeks or so is now more about shorter, faster runs. This week as well as 7 miles in Greenwich and a couple of lunchtimes runs along the Thames I did a tempo run in Dulwich (the idea being to run the first third of the run slowish, then speed up to peak speed during the second third, and then gradually slow down during the final third.

Like running intervals, the idea of this is to get your body running fast for short periods. Supposedly this helps to raise your "lactate threshold", the pace you can run at where your liver can remove lactate from your bloodstream at around the same rate as it gets created, and thus allows you to run faster in distance races without muscle fatigue.

As well as the tempo run I did a "race pace" run today in Dulwich. Again the idea is to get your body used to running at your planned race pace, albeit for shorter periods. So I did a warm-up lap and then ran 3 laps at 8:45 min/mile pace, which if I can keep that up in the New Forest Half would see me cross the line in 1:54:37, a time I'd be very happy with. I've run that pace in a 10km before so just need to carry on for another 11km !

Since we got back from holiday the weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Well worse for sunbathing and barbecues perhaps but pretty good for distance running. Yesterday's 3.5 laps around Greenwich were mostly in the pouring rain, something I don't mind at all. In fact I think I run better in the rain.

A total of 21.82 miles this week, bringing my total for July to 41.55 and for the year to 556.63.

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.