Weekly Summary

Not a bad week from a training perspective last week.

Five General runs
One Recovery Paced run
And two tempo runs.

I covered a total distance of 62.5 miles
at an average of 8:08 min/mile.

Next week I'll cut back a little and give it some real 'thripe' at the Langdale Horseshoe Fell race.
I'm intrigued to see how I'll do there. And then Lorna and I will have a day on the hill together on the Sunday.

Now THAT I'm looking forward to!!

Weekly Summary.

I'm not going to write about all my bread-and-butter training runs. That would make for a very boring blog. You'll just have to assume that I'm doing them.

I'll try to post a short summary of each week. Like this, using the past week as an illustration.

Weekly mileage: 56.54 miles
Profile: 100% base mileage on roads, average pace 9.35mm
Longest run: 13.19 miles at 9.07mm pace
Niggles: none
Sofa-spud days: none

I'm not much into analysing and ruminating. Once a run is in the bag I move on and start thinking about the next one, which reflects my attitude to most other things in life. My brief foray into HRM training about 18 months ago was something of a farce. I like being able to log my runs online at http://www.fetchveryone.com/ and have all the sums done for me and all the statistics at my fingertips, but I really don't use the facility to its full potential.

Having said that, I wonder how I ever managed to run at all without a SDM!

A Fabulous Run

I wasn't expecting much from the run I did tonight. I had a little over an hour, and it was raining lightly and 'Winding' less lightly.

OK........ a lot!

So I planned to just do an hour at a really easy pace. Relaxed, and breathing like I was asleep.

And the Running Gods looked down on me, shook their heads in the manner of a patient parent, smiled, and did something to my legs that was extraordinary.

Occasionally, as runners, we have the kind of run where EVERYTHING works. And it's easy. Really easy.
I clipped along at an average pace of 7:46 minutes/mile...... and it was effortless. Relaxed.

I'll happily have a couple of those a week..!!

Reasons to be grateful

The final pieces of my Mum's estate were finally sorted out today. I had to pick up some documents from the solicitor and drop one final thing in to them which they will deal with for me.

It was a sunny and cool day.

Mid Wales looked magnificent. Mum would have loved it!

It felt a little strange ringing the doorbell of the house that had represented 'home' for half my life. I had a key - that was why I was there.
The new owners weren't in, but evidence of their presence, was.
I felt a bit like I was intruding!

So I posted the keys through the letter-box. I hope they don't think that was rude.

And I popped over to see my Dad.

Dad was engrossed (as is his way) in watching the tennis on the TV, and it gave me a chance to just have a quiet few minutes while I drank a cup of his tea.

My parents had enthused me about all things Outdoor from a young age.
Walking and camping trips were a large part of my early childhood. Mum insisted that I join the sailing club at school, something for which I will always be thankful.
I have never been happier than when I'm doing something in the outdoors.

It is the most natural thing in the world to me to made the most of opportunities that are offered - and get out and enjoy being able to enjoy our planet .
Well.... tiny bits of it, at least.

Running is an extension of that really.
That I can even contemplated running 10 marathons in 10 days is something that is rooted deep in the past.

"I can, and I will!" was something of a battle-cry that Mum instilled in Julia (my sister) and I for any challenges that we faced, be they a spelling test, or a music exam, or being able to walk to the top of The Great Rhos (a veritable MOUNTAIN when we were small!!).

Mum was a little person - tiny in fact - with the heart and persona of a Giant.
She also had absolute confidence and belief in her kids.

10 in 10....????

I can!

And I will.

Thanks Mum

Isn't Autumn Great..???

From a training perspective it most certainly is!
There are fewer people out because it's colder.... and wetter.... and darker.
Which means that you can relax your sidestepping-like-a-world-class-outside-half skills in the more urban areas in which you run.
Still have to keep your wits about you though. One person I saw on my early run today was in stealth clothing and looking DOWN - not where he was going - and managing to take up the whole pavement in his oblivion to anything going on around him!

I run relatively quietly, and so when he moved laterally in MY direction just as I was passing and we 'almost' brushed shoulders, I think he got a bit of a fright!
I fancy I may have heard an utterance from said fellow - and it wasn't "Sorry mate, didn't see you!"

Well..?? I was visible in my blinding Hi-Viz Gilet - and I saw You - from about ½ a mile away!

More people take to their cars, and at busy times - it really is quicker to run!

I ran twice today, once when Lorna was at work - 12 miles at a fraction faster than 7:30's - and later when she came home and we had a small window to run together.
Running with Lorna is fabulous. I really treasure the times that we get to do it.

It's likely I'll not be able to run tomorrow - or perhaps just a very short one. I have a lot of driving to do, I want to pop in and see my Dad, and I'm collecting my children for the weekend. It takes up pretty much the whole day.

I'm happy with the way things are going at the moment. The minor niggles that had been pestering me over the last month or so seem to have disappeared, and I'm feeling robust and solid when I'm running.

2008 is getting old.

Autumn is definitely here. The nights are drawing in and it's time to get out my winter running wardrobe. I don't mind that. I love summer runs, and being able, "at my age", to scamper around the streets wearing kit that looks like mismatched underwear. But there's something comforting about going out on a cold winter evening wearing a long-sleeved base-layer, and tights, and gloves, and large swathes of fluorescent yellow and reflective silver.

My work diary is full to bursting this month, and I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to earn a little extra money to stash away for those months next year when I might want to reduce my workload to fit in with training and fundraising.

My training plan for October and November is uncomplicated. I'll increase my mileage to somewhere in the region of 250 miles per month, from 194 in September. 262 miles? Don't tempt me! All of that mileage, give or take the Birmingham half-marathon and a couple of shorter races, should be around 9.30-10mm pace. No fancy structured stuff. No must-do sessions apart from at least four runs of over 20 miles to be done whenever they can be fitted in.

Today I was too busy to squeeze in an afternoon run, so when I got home I put dinner in the oven and Leon and I went out for a toddle round the block while it was cooking. Only 3.5 miles. It was wet, and windy, and dark. But it was lovely.

The pear-and-blackberry crumble and custard we had for dinner was even lovelier :o)

Which brings me to my daughter's school project on "diet".

Beth, who is in Year 8, told me last night that her task in class had been to devise a suitable meal for a female Olympic athlete.

"Vegetable soup and a wholemeal roll for a starter because vegetables and wholemeal bread are healthy," she said. "Then rare steak and chips, because that's what everyone wanted to eat after the Berlin Marathon last year. And for pudding, fruit crumble and custard, because that's what you and Leon eat all the time."

I look forward to hearing the feedback she gets from her teacher. At least she suggested that the athlete should drink water rather than Real Ale ;o)

Running efficiently

There is much talk, especially on running forums, about running efficiently.
I have witnessed a huge variety of running styles over time. And for the brief period I was working in the Retail side of the running phenomenon, I got to see even more, in great detail and in super-slow-motion.

The biomechanics of running has always been a fascination for me, and it was a series of running related injuries that made me think about HOW I ran, and whether I was perhaps responsible for at least some of the things that were happening to me.

Intellectually, I knew many of the principles that constitute a running style that reduces the dynamic impact forces of running. But like many people, I also thought that they needn't apply to me!

After a 3 month lay-off with a running related injury nearly 4 years ago - and part way through a Half marathon that I had no business running due to the absolute lack of training I had done - the injury which had kept me away from running started to flare up again. And the only way I was able to run without pain, involved putting into practise those principle that I knew.

And it worked.

The thing that REALLY surprised me that was for less effort, I was running 30 seconds per mile faster.
It was a real Eureka moment for me.
And the somewhat agricultural start to a process which has me running the way I do now.

It was simple really!
Shorten my stride
Increase my cadence
And relax!

The advantage to me is that I can run in really light shoes - over long distances.

Shoes for the hills have virtually no cushioning, and mean that the feedback from the feet to the brain is instant. It has transformed my experience of long days in mountainous terrain covering significant distances and Ascent and Descent, and has opened up possibilities to me that would have never been possible previously.
And my road shoes have become progressively more lightweight as I have refined and improved the way that I run.

It is slightly ironic then, that my shoe of choice for running on the road, is a trail racing flat.
It's not my racing shoe - it's my everything shoe.
It is SO comfortable that it could be a slipper
And it remains so even after 26.2 miles.
And at 230 grammes, it's pretty light.

The Inov-8 f-lite™ 230 may not seem to be the obvious choice for running lots of road mileage. And for someone with a long stride and a Heel-striking running action, they would be inappropriate.
But for this midfoot-striker, they are amazing!

I believe that I have benefited hugely from the changes I have made over the last few years. And 10 marathons will certainly be a stern test!