Learning to embrace the filth

Feeling less than 100% this week has actually helped with mt attempt to ease off at the end of my busy running year.  I’ve made a good start at the short term goals I set last week and also decided to hunt out some muddy puddles!

When Will I Learn?

Less than two weeks ago I was talking about the end of my season and taking it easy yet today I found myself getting up early on a Saturday morning to go and have one last crack at a fast parkrun.  When will I learn?

Time Flies

Doesn’t time fly?! Can you believe it’s 3 months since I wrote anything on here? It’s not because I’ve been injured or had writer’s block; I’ve just not had anything I’ve wanted to say. Which is highly unusual for me!

As we rapidly progress into the final quarter of the year, and with no more racing scheduled for this year, I thought it was the right time to reflect back and look forward.

The first quarter of 2015 was the adventure of my first ever marathon training plan; stretching my longest run from 13 miles to 20 was far more enjoyable than I expected!

And what can I say about Q2 of 2015?

Quite possibly the best period of my running career to date. The experience of running the London Marathon was almost indescribable! I also added the cherries of a new road mile PB at the City of London Mile and a 5k (parkrun) PB on my birthday too.

The third quarter picked up where the second had left off – securing a mile PB at the Iffley Road track – but after a tough 10k in the Great Newham London Run, the fatigue of such a cracking first six months was creeping in. I was running regularly but not training specifically. The dreaded junk miles were starting to increase. Races were getting tougher and the frustration was growing.

I managed to refocus enough to secure my second quickest half marathon at the recent Oxford Half Marathon to finish off my season. The last few miles really showed up the lack of race specific training – the beauty of hindsight!

I’m now enjoying taking it easy for a couple of weeks – the first time since last Christmas. I’m still running of course but nothing too long, nothing too hard. It’s providing an opportunity to be a bit more social and to pull together some coaching ideas for the spring, not to mention giving some consideration to my own winter training!

Caught Short On The Long Run

As ever when you’re training for a running event, the weekend is all about the Long Slow Run.  Only after I started training for the London Marathon and doing the lab test did I realise that I’ve never run the LSR slow enough!  With the distances required for the marathon I’ve had to discipline myself to keep it steady.  Today was due to be my longest ever run but it didn’t quite go as I expected.

#Janathon 2015 Day 31 – What a month!

The last day of Janathon was due to be the first time I volunteered at parkrun.  The weather had other ideas.  From nowhere, we awoke to a covering of snow which, due to understandable safety concerns, put paid to my tail-running duties.  It didn’t stop me going for a relaxing leg loosener before tomorrow’s Watford Half though.

#Janathon Day 22 – Back in the Game!

I like to feel a bit nervous before a race; it makes me ready.  Feeling nervous before a training run is something I’ve not felt before but as I shut the door to head for a club run tonight, my tummy did a belly flop.  And then I remembered my marathon motivation.

#Janathon 2015 Day 17 – My Mate “Super” Steve

Today I was due to run with my mate Steve Naylor as a goodbye before he heads off to Australia and New Zealand for 3 months.  Unfortunately, picking up a niggle this week put paid to that.

#Janathon 2015 Day 9 – Going the #extramile

On the eve of Janathon I was concerned.  As I was going to be starting my London Marathon training plan I knew I would already be “failing” on the running side of the challenge; I didn’t want to over do it.

As a result of not running everyday, I thought I might struggle with finding some running related blog topic every day too.  The thing is, you can never tell what will happen in Janathon (or Juneathon for that matter).

#Janathon 2015 Day 8 – No Man’s Land

Yesterday’s Janathon action was all about new running shoes but today was back to the basics: running.  Thursday night is club run night and my first for a few weeks so I was looking forward to it.

#Janathon 2015 Day 4 – The Last Easy Week

As I’ve mentioned already, I’m preparing to take on my first marathon in April at the London Marathon in aid of African Children’s Fund.  I’ve already become a lab rat in order to test my body and I’ve sat with my coach and mentor to talk through the training strategy.

I’ll share more about my strategy and training plan in future posts but today is all about revelling in one thing: the end of my last easy running week until the end of April!