Week 3

Pretty good week last week ending with a faster than planned 10 miler.

I’ve already moved this weeks scheduled hill session from Wednesday to Monday (and completed it). Tuesday will be a 6 mile ‘steady’ with some faster bits thrown in and Thursday is an easy 5 miles. I’m going to skip the scheduled rest days this week as I build to the Mad Dog 10k on Feb 12th. Wednesday, I am hoping to run out with a local running club and Friday will just be a ‘wait and see’ kind of day (probably be a reverse parkrun).

Saturday will be the regular parkrun and Sunday’s ‘long run’ will be a 12 mile affair. I haven’t decided on a route as yet but as usual, it will end with the 2 mile uphill finish. This isn’t strictly following the training plan which calls for a ‘faster finish’ but there is no way around it.

Marathon training is going really well, helped in part by the Jantastic event over at www.marathontalk.com to provide some motivation.

Week 2

Once again, my working week is looking like it will interfere with the training plan but I am aiming to get the mileage in and ensure the ‘long run’ happens. I started the week with a couple of runs, 3.5 and 4.25 miles yeaterday and today respectively and will be aiming for 4x3mins fast with a 2 min recovery between for tomorrow. I will be taking either Thursday or Friday as a rest day and putting in a 5 miler on the other day.

Saturday is regular parkrun day and with my usual warm-up/cooldown should add another 5 to 6 miles to the total. Sunday’s long run is scheduled to be 10 miles ‘slow’. This could prove problematic as I still have to master running anything slower than my normal training pace of around 9.5 mins/mile.

And so it begins…

First week ‘proper’ and already the training plan needs to be tweaked a little to fit around my working week.

Monday was supposed to be a rest day but I moved Tuesday’s 6 miler up. It didn’t go exactly as planned as I was supposed to start easy and finish strongly. I still haven’t quite got the hang of running slowly yet! Today’s session turned out to be Thursday’s 6 mile easy run…except that it was 6 and a half and ended up at around my target marathon pace of 9 minutes per mile. This wouldn’t normally be much of a problem but the course I was running was quite hilly and I certainly feel the effects now! Tomorrow, I am on my travels (which is why the scheduling needed to be juggled) and will be a rest day. Wednesday’s rep session will now be on Thursday before the second rest day on Friday (still with me? Yes? Do you think you could drop me an email and let me know where I am??)

The best part of this training plan is that every Saturday is a parkrun! So, I’ll be off for my usual weekly fix around Alexandra Park! Sunday’s ‘long’ run is a relatively comfortable 8 mile affair but the main problem is that no matter which way I go, it’s gotta finish with a 500 ft climb over 1 or 2 miles (depending on which way I go). I’ll probably take the longer ‘sweep’ at this stage over the short sharp shock!

Pre-marathon training week

My ‘official’ training starts on Monday 9th but I’m making sure I keep up with Jantastic (see Marathon Talk website). First run of the week was a relatively comfortable (pace-wise) 6.8 miles with a very testing 1.5 mile, 500ft elevation hill, strong wind-against into driving freezing rain and hail, towards the finish (that hurt!)

Very strong gusty winds today almost had me heading for the gym treadmill but I decided to go with something different and went out for a 2 and a bit mile ‘sprint’. First part is all uphill (but only a gentle slope compared with yesterday!) and then I cut across the fields…where running changed to some strange combination of wading and mud wrestling. Back on the solid surface and downhill, I picked up the pace again and added in a couple of small hill sprints at the finish for a short but varied session.

Tomorrow, I plan to go for a 30 min out/28 min back session which should cover around 6 miles at ‘easy’ pace.

Race Entries 2012

I will try to keep this list updated with entries and results.

12 Feb 2012 – Mad Dog 2012, Southport – 10k
26 Feb 2012 – GNW Half Marathon, Blackpool – HM
29 Apr 2012 – GM Marathon, Manchester – FM

First of 2012

I hope you all enjoyed the festive season and you are ready to face the next 12 months.

My goals for this year (apart from regular blog updates!):

52 weeks of parkrun including at least 3 volunteer duties
6 competitive races including 10k, half and full marathons
5 training runs each week
1000 training miles
Run 5k in under 22 minutes
Run 10k in under 46 minutes
Run a half marathon in under 1 hour 52 minutes
Run a full marathon in under 4 hours

Time for an update

My New Year resolution is to update my blog at least once a week. For those of you that know me, it is likely to be filled with news of parkruns and my training for the Manachester Marathon in 2012.

Sponsorship

For anyone ‘just passing’ who may feel compelled to donate to my fundraising activities, you can now donate using your mobile phone. Please text LAKE47 followed by the amount of your donation in whole pounds (max. £10) to 70070 e.g. LAKE47 £5 will donate £5 to my ‘Wear it Pink’ fund in aid of Cancer Research UK. Thankyou.

Demonspawn

All of my life seems to be good at the moment and yet the same old demons returned today with a vengeance.

I know I’ll get through it, I always do, but the monster is well and truly out of the closet and, if you’ll excuse the metaphorical mixing, the Djinn will return to the bottle when (s)he’s good and ready!

Monster

There’s a monster in my closet,
At least there was last night;
I didn’t really see it
But it gave me such a fright.

There’s a monster in my closet,
Of that, I’m fairly certain;
It hides among the shadows
And gently moves the curtain.

There’s a monster in my closet,
It used to be quite shy;
But then I caught a glimpse of it
From the corner of my eye.

There’s a monster in my closet,
But now it’s getting bolder;
It has to make strange noises
To scare me, now I’m older.

The monster in my closet,
Has now come out to play;
I’m sure this is the first time
It’s seen the light of day.

The monster from my closet,
Thinks it’s really funny;
It follows me when shopping
And then spends all my money.

The monster from my closet,
Has a darker side to it;
It sneaks up when I’m happy
And makes me feel like shit.

The monster from my closet,
Has chased away my friends;
We’ve only got each other now
But that’s not where it ends…

Because soon there’ll be no closet,
No monster in a hole;
It’s time to get my life back
And time to take control.

I’ll work my fingers to the bone,
I’ll save for a deposit;
Buy myself a nice little home
No fears, no monster, no closet!