Silverstone 10k

 Great run tonight. I did better than I should have seeing as April was mainly rest and the back is still playing up; I shall pay for it tomorrow!

Garmin stats

The Harriers Bus has changed itself into the Harriers F1 Car tonight.

37:59

Previous
2006 - 38:49
2004 - 39:49
2003 - 37:57
2002 - 39:44

April Roundup

Distance - 90miles
Runs - 11
Average -
Races - 1, London Marathon

6x6.30mins with 90 secs recovery

6x6.30mins with 90 secs recovery

First proper session post London. Good to be 'back in the room'. 

The six sets were ok but the journey back to the stadium was tough and seemed never-ending. 

Shin fine, no issues. Back, ok mostly running but got sore on the slow run back - seized up for a while but ok later. We'll see in the morning. Got really cold quickly afterwards - didn't get warm (even in the car) until a hot shower sorted me out. 

Silverstone next week? hmmm.

Faux Bondarenko

Faux Bondarenko at Garmin connect

First night back training with Bedford Harriers since London.

Can't really claim this as a proper Bondarenko session as the back is still playing up and I only did 2 of the 5 sets at 50% of the effort I would normally do. Never mind 8 1/2 or so miles was a bonus - at a reasonable pace too.

wikipedia says - Olga Bondarenko

More about the session

First run post marathon

Wednesday 23rd April

Went out for a gentle 3 mile run. Legs felt ok and so did the shin. Seems like the old back problem has returned - ligaments. In my teens this took months to heal. Usually when it happens it takes a few days, so the fact that its been more than a week is a little concerning.

2014 London Marathon

2014 London Marathon by paulrun26 at Garmin Connect 

Stats from the VMLM website

March Roundup

Distance - 230 Miles
Runs - 20
Races - 1; Ashby 20

KKSx 5

Date	24/03/2014
5x	1 loop (1.6m)	2 mins recovery	Pace (m/m)
1	10:16	2:00	6:25
2	10:06	2:00	6:19
3	9:55	2:00	6:12
4	9:58	2:00	6:14
5	9:52	2:00	6:10
Total	50:07
Average	10:01		6:16

(1200,1000,800) (1200,800,800) (1000,800,800) with 200 jog recoveries.

Ashby 20

Ashby 20 by paulrun26 at Garmin Connect  

The Harriers 'bus' continues its tour

Links
Ashby 20

February Roundup

Miles - 185
Runs - 19
Races - 1, Stamford 30k

400/400 at 5k/marathon pace x 12 plus 4 miles

Didn't run this but its an idea for a track session

Stamford 30k

Stamford 30k by paulrun26 at Garmin Connect 

 

Harriers 'Bus' On Tour 2014 - first stop Stamford

Links

Stamford 30k

KKSx 5

Date	12/02/2014
5x	1 loop (1.6m)	2 mins recovery	Pace (m/m)
1	10:52	2:00	6:48
2	10:23	2:00	6:29
3	-	2:00	#VALUE!
4	10:15	2:00	6:24
5	10:10	2:00	6:21
Total	41:40
Average	10:25		6:31

(1200,1000,800) (1200,800,800) (1000,800,800) with 200m jog recoveries.

Garmin

• 4:39.4
• 3:49.0
• 3:06.3
•  
• 4:40.5
• 3:04.3
• 3:06.9
•  
• 3:49.5
• 3:05.5
• 2:57.2

SEAA Cross Country Championship - Parliament Hill Fields London

Saturday 25th January 2014

SEAA Cross Country Championship - Parliament Hill Fields London by paulrun26 at Garmin Connect  

British cross country; the best in the world.

15k of the most brutal running on some of the toughest surface I have ever run on. Fantastic. Finished the course in 66min 33s for a position of 378/950ish. By all accounts a decent place given this is a race with a quality field.

12x 400 (5k pace) / 400 (MP) no recovery

11.85 miles covered

Garmin

Awards Night

Friday January 17th 2014

A successful night collecting some awards from 2013. My season didn't really start until the end of July. Having had some 10 weeks off earlier in the years with a hernia op and then a calf tear. The Doug Anderson 5 k was the start of some good racing.

Along with these were the coaches award; felt quite proud to get that one.

Doug Anderson 5k - 1st MV45
Wolverton 5m - 2nd Male
Great Eastern Half Marathon - 2nd Male
Cross-Country - 3rd Male

Look what we won!

1000,800,800 x3 with 200 recoveries

11 miles including w/u and c/d.

Garmin

Three Counties Cross Country 4 - East Haddon

3CXC - East Haddon

Tough!

http://www.threecountiesxc.co.uk/

Wolverton 5

Wolverton 5 on Garmin

Club Championship race, 2nd male

5 mile under 30mins - great result. I deserved that. I couldn't keep up with Gill though, I thought I would be stronger but no way.

2013 Great Eastern Run

Sunday 13th October 2013

Garmin Stats

Club Championship Race - 2nd Male

www.perkinsgreateasternrun.co.uk

Swineshead 10

Garmin 

Result
14th - 1:02:59

Previous running

• 2011
• 2000
• 1996

Doug Anderson 5K race

Garmin

Previous races
None

2013 London Marathon

21st  April 2013

Had to pull out this year as my hernia op in February meant that there would be very little training. Decided instead to volunteer as a marshal at the start. This involved guiding runners from the train station to the start.

Organised by Bedford Harriers, a bus left Bedford at 4am enabling us to be in London by 6 and at our marshaling point by 7am.

I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours 'herding' people to the start areas, answering questions like " Which way to the start"?

Met up with Gemma and watched some of the race before finding a nice east-end cafe for a late fry-up breakfast.

So pleased to receive a silver marathon medal. I'd do it again if not running London.

Fastest cycling mile

2:27

2012 Great Eastern Run

5th time of running - 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and another bright and sunny day.

Great Eastern Run

2012 London Marathon

London Marathon 2012 by paulrun26 at Garmin Connect 

 

It was a decent time but not the greatest run. Go out hard and hang on was not the best thing to do on this day.

With Marianne and Dave

Course 'recce' on Saturday

Team Furness 1

Team Furness 2

Its all over - and I still have to carry my own bag!

Runners Page

I have my very own runners page on the website.

My runners page

Joined Bedford Harriers

Thought it was about time i joined a club again, need to improve my running.

Looking for another sub-3 hr marathon before I'm 50.

Bedford Harriers

2011 London Marathon

Bad day - hamstring pulled. It'll be unlikely that I get to London now.

Marathon day.

A New Course, Of Course

The title ‘A New Route, Of Course’ just didn’t sound quite the same, however, and whatever the title, the general theme of this years Virgin London Marathon seems to be running new routes. For the second week ‘running’ (no pun intended) I have run a new course; well, some on well used routes but in essence, the majority is new. This week I ran to Easton Maudit, it has been some years since I ran out this way; not for any other reason than I just got used to doing the same stuff as before. The strong winds played a part in running it this time. I’ve always found it beneficial when running long to head out into the wind and return with the wind behind me. It doesn’t always work (especially when one churns out the same routes) but it helps.

In the modern computer age its easy to check the weather and wind direction before a run, just as it is to map out a new route. When I started running some 16 years ago I would look at the OS map, plan a route and then check the mileage in the car, twice, just for accuracy. Nowadays, there are a plethora of mapping sites just begging to plan your ideal route for you. I use MapMyRun, mainly as it has a feature to follow roads, this makes it much quicker to plan routes. I now have a new course to the south-west and east, a nice new northerly route I guess will be next. That’ll probably incorporate the A6 to Kettering or, part of an existing circular route to the Addingtons.

This could be the year that has more new routes than before - that means more course pb’s

Good mileage this week 45 - fifth consecutive increase this year. It will most probably be lower this week in preparation for Sunday’s race at Stamford. 6 runs out. I don’t like running 6 times a week, however slow some of the sessions are; it always seems like I’m over doing it.Five is just about right. No speed sessions - second week without so a bit down there.

Bring on the new week.

A 20 mile run....

….., usually indicates that a marathon is somewhere on the horizon; and of course, a marathon is on the horizon although at just under 11 weeks away this is probably the earliest 20 run during marathon training. Following the success of last weeks 15 mile race at Folksworth I knew it would be a good run; so, with a slightly new route to take in Upper Dean and Hargrave on the way out, and then the runway at Chelveston airfield along with the new footpath from Higham school to Shirley Road bridge I ran my inaugural 2011 20 mile training run. Well, actually 20.64 miles to be Garmin precise. Using the MapMyRun website I tracked a route of 20.4. Using the ‘follow the road’ feature for speed the actual distance normally ends up shorter; but of course, for mega distances it ends up longer - ‘sod’s law’ I think.

It is also the first 20 mile circular route, I usually prefer out and back (for reasons of 20 mile accuracy) and local geography. I’m sure this one will be run many times.

I mentioned Shirley Road bridge, this has recently been repaired after being left to deteriorate after 40 years of non-use and that's another story.

Round-up
January -
180.64 best January ever and 45 up on last year
21 runs - 3 up on last year
2 races 2 pb’s - MK parkrun (first running) and then Folksworth (great pb)
Pace 7:36 m/m
Summary - excellent month, great foundation for a great London but don’t overtrain.

Folksworth 15 - How did that go???

Last line of my last blog post read “Next Sunday is Folksworth – first one since 2004; how will that go???” Well…. It went quite well thank you very much. Only bagged a pb for the race *smiley face* beating the previous best time by 1minute and 6 seconds from way back in 1998 when I was still 33 years old. If this race is anything to judge and the on-going training is good then I should be up for a really good time in London. I thought I was good for about 1:42 but to achieve that is quite remarkable.

I was up at about 7.00am and helped myself to a double porridge with some honey and Golden Syrup, with the race about 4hrs away it still seemed a lot to eat as I do not normally eat before a Sunday run (I’d always eat before a race though).

Left home about 8.30 after walking the dog to the shop for a paper, it was really too early as Folksworth is about 30 minutes drive but knowing how limited the parking is it was the right idea. I did have to stop a couple of times for a wee – nervous; me? Got there at about 9.30 and found that I couldn’t park where we previously did, but about a half-mile away, there was a shuttle bus taking runners to the start. Did the usual pre-race things and talked to a couple of other runners and then made the 10 minute walk to the start. I sat in the bus shelter for a while, to keep warm and found myself the brunt of a few ‘waiting for a bus’ jokes.

Usual two lap course and the wind today favoured the runner, with us it seemed most of the way round but quite nasty on the down-hill stretch to the end of the first lap and finish. I started about one third of the way in and felt quite boxed in for a while; the start is quite narrow and busy for a couple of miles. I always think its good to start about there is it keeps me steady at the start.

The rest of the race was , it would seem the same all the way round, I ran as hard as I could and never felt too fatigued. Perhaps the last half-mile into the wind was the toughest. I ran most of the way with a guy from March. Preparing for his first marathon, he run the first lap really well but by about 12 I managed to pull away and beat him by over one minute; I’m sure he’ll do well at London.

I’m sure the finish clock read 1:38:05 as I crossed the line, with about 6 seconds to cross the start line I had settled for a 1:37:59 but by Garmin disputed that as did the official result – never mind, still a great pb. Yes it was a great pb. Third best wava score too. I had my usual ‘yakking-up’ session over the finish line but thankfully didn’t embarrass myself too much.

A quick change and home by 2pm in time for dinner with the in-laws.

Next planned race - Stamford 30k on February 13th err……. How will that one go???

When 4 times a week is just not enough

I am, of course, referring to the number of times run in one week! Over the last year I have averaged 4 runs per week and I guess over the preceding years perhaps nearer 3. So it does come as a bit of a surprise that last week’s 4 outings seemed totally inadequate. It did seem like I had missed a whole week rather than 3 days – I still managed just under 40 for the week though. I suppose that the last 4 months training have been quite intensive and I have gotten used to running more frequently. What was once the norm is now not enough.

Stats for the last 15 weeks; 69 runs at an average of 4.6 runs per week. Two ‘3’s, five ‘4’s, five’5’s and three ‘6’s. Not world beating but more than I’m used to. Let’s hope that this serves as good marathon base training.
Round-up

A mixed week really. 39 miles (93 for the year) 4 runs (11 for the year) = 9.75 p/r. at an average of , over 5hrs mins (11:50 for the year).

Sunday’s run was ok – 17 out and back to Raunds FC; had a bad patch at 14 but got through that ok and a windy day too. One interval session; 5 x 400. Listening to Marathon Talk episode 53 the training they advised more time ‘in session’ so 10 it is next time.

Next Sunday is Folksworth – first one since 2004; how will that go???

parkrun

First Parkrun today

Milton Keynes No 52

Time - 19:49

Result

2010 Round-up

Roundup 2010

A brief round-up of my 2010 running year.

The numbers:

• 16 years of running completed.
• 1714.51 miles run, this beats least years best ever total by 289.47. That is 32.88 per week.
• 212 runs, again a best ever beating 1997’s best of 198. 4 weeks of 6 runs, 6 weeks of 5.
• 100 miles or more each month – first time ever, and 13 consecutive months.
• 181.88 = best mileage in one month, November. Highest month since May 2005 and 4th best ever.
• 103.16 = lowest month June. Highest low figure ever.
• 52 weeks of at least 1 run - keeps that streak going with 139 consecutive weeks.
• 38 weeks over 30 mpw, 9 over 40 and 2 over 50.
• 52.74 = best mileage in one week, ever.
• 7:40 m/m average pace; 3rd slowest pace
• 3 Races; 1 marathon and 2 half-marathons – 1 cancelled.

My perception:

2010 has been the most consistent years running to date. This has to be good news for an ageing runner. I never expected to reach over 1700, the target was 1500. 212 runs, again a best ever is just about 4 days in 7 at 58%

Average running pace is much slower; the old bench-mark of 7:30 m/m does seem to have long gone now. This could be due to the introduction of my Garmin Forerunner in training; therefore most ‘random’ runs would have accurate pace not a judgemental figure.

Worst moment has to be the one and only marathon of the year, at a chip-time of 3:27:50 The Shakespeare Marathon is the slowest of the 12 I have run, that’s what you get for being under prepared – I think that there was not enough consistent running in the weeks leading to the race, by comparison to the cancelled Luton Marathon ther were less 20 mile runs, less total distance in the weeks preceding, and less quality runs too, no hills and very few intervals. It was a warm day but I have ‘marathoned’ better in warmer weather.

Goals for 2011:

• Maintain consistency.
• 1700 miles again.
• 100 miles in every month.
• Sub-3:15 at the London Marathon.
• At least 1 run every week to keep the streak going.
• Race more, including parkruns.
• Smarter training, more hills, intervals and fartleks.
• Stay injury free.

Christmas is over already.

Well, that's another one done. Too much eating and drinking must have lead to a bit of weight-gain. I haven't checked the scales yet and I think I'll leave it for a few more runs yet.

I have managed to get a number of good runs in over the holiday period. 5 during Christmas week, 6 the week before.

So, with Christmas over its time for VLM (Virgin London Marathon) training. I haven't run London since 2004 so it will be a little strange starting the marathon training now. Most of my marathons run since then have been in Edinburgh, in May; with the exception of Barcelona which was in March - scene of my first London 'Good for Age' time.

With Luton being cancelled in December I should have a good bit of endurance base left so I 'must' have a good start on previous years. As in the past I have entered the Folksworth 15 - for the sixth time I will be running this event as part of my VLM training. I have also pencilled in the Stamford 30K and Ashby 20; all old favourites. The Oakley 20 may also be entered. I'm not sure why I've never run this event, it is probably one of the closest to home and good London training. I should enter this!

It's Christmas

....so not that much in the way of running to write about. It was great to have the family about for Christmas. At the age they are now, this may be the last time all four of us are together to open presents on Christmas morning, I guess that day will come. It's great to have the girls home; With Lauren staying 'up North' and Gemma at uni the house has seemed quite strange these past few months.

A brief round-up of the week :-

9 miles run with Stuart on Christmas eve.

6 sessions brought in 39.27 miles for the week, damn, if I'd have known I would have done the extra to clock 40 - never mind.

Recorded over 100 for the month - first time that I've done that for all 12 months of the year, and 13 consecutive.

Those 6 sessions made up 209 for the year - another best. The 6, added to 1 last week made 7 days running on the trot, I can't remember the last time I did that; but I didn't run on Christmas day. I think I've only ever done that once.

And finally, 3 short of 1700 for the year.

Cool Running

This weekend turned out to be a great weekend, as far as running goes, despite the really cold weather. In fact, with no goal until VLM in April 2011 a really good week. Just over 30 miles in 4 running days. The highlights being a 10m midweek run in the rain, yesterdays first parkrun and a 15 mile for no reason run today.

Still have a cold - its not too bad now, mostly in the head - should be gone in time for Christmas.

Edging towards the 100 mark for December - This will be the first year of 100+ in all months of the same year. the revised target of 1700 is just about on too. We'll see how many I get in between Christmas and new year.

I had registered for parkrun a couple of months ago and every opportunity to run one seem to be missed; so, another chance yesterday to run at Grovelands Park, Enfield; some 2 miles from Gemma's uni' campus was an opportunity that was not going to be missed this time. Arrived at about 8.15 for a 9am start but couldn't find anyone. I didn't realise that they turn up at about 8.45. With little to set up we were gathered at the start for 9. As it was really cold it was announced that the timing would not be in operation today - damn!! so no official first-run then. Not to worry about 30 or so people braved the cold and we all had a good run round. I clocked 21:43 for the 5k - I'm sure I can do much better than that but it did seem flat out. it is an undulating course and the incline is made worse by the 3 times you encounter it. At the finish there was a Lucozade rep handing out free samples. Today was his last day of the year and so as I was walking back to the car he was at the back of his van handing out boxes of gels, recovery and powdered drinks; more than enough to get me through to April for London.

Today's route was made up of parts of others, some on and some off-road. It was very cold -3 at the start and it took a long while to warm up. Whilst it was not considered to be windy the breeze would remind me how cold one can soon get when changing direction and the wind, say, catches the sweat on your back. 15 good miles though, slow start but ran consistently. 3 consecutive miles within 1 second and the fastest 2 at the end. For a run with no real purpose it was a really good training session.

Of course - all running is good!!

Too Cold To Run

Not temperature wise as it would appear to be summer like weather at the moment with the outside temperature soaring to 5 Celsius. No, I have come down with a cold, more commonly termed as man-flu. So I didn't run on Friday as i felt quite bad. A little 3m jog with the dog on Saturday was tough going; although he had to have some exercise as we went to Rochester for the day and he was left along for most of the day. Spent most of Saturday evening on the sofa in a sleeping back freezing my wotsits off !!. Once I'd had a bowl of porridge at about 9 I was too hot. Went to bed at 11 and slept the night through - woke up this morning and decided there would be no running today. There are not many times in the 16 or so years running that I have missed running because of a cold; maybe I'm getting old (or perhaps wise)

We had a nice day in Rochester yesterday, a Dickensian market in the castle grounds, and a walk around the city itself, whilst it was not too cold I could not get warm myself.

Last weeks cancelled Luton was a bit of a disappointment to say the least. After 12 weeks or so training for a marathon and then have it cancelled at the last minute is a bit gutting. Whilst it is easy to say that there is a good base for VLM next year, not having run a 20 for a few weeks now good training seems to be fading fast. I had planned to run a long one today. Never mind.

I was looking at the half-marathon at Wicksteed Park on January 1st. Notably starting at 11:11, 01/01/11 - I should enter it really as it will give me a goal and kick-start good training again.

Got a mention on the Marathon Talk podcast. Responded to their email via facebook to comment on what we would be doing as the marathon was cancelled.