Rightzone Triathlon

71 miles in 7 days and 59 days out of 59 days….DONE!

// February 28th, 2010 // No Comments » // Races

The end of an excellent week of training. Probably the best week of marathon training ever I’d say. Here’s how the week looked.

Monday – 8 miles easy (7m30s pace)

Tuesday – 4 miles easy (still tired from the 20 on Sunday)

Weds – 13.1 miles @ 6m53s (steady)

Thurs – 6 miles easy (tired)

Fri – 4.13 miles @ 7 mins per mile AM + 5.43 miles easy PM

Sat – Bushy Park 5k (3.1 miles) in 17.10 (5m29s per mile) + 6.90 miles easy

Sun – 20 miles @ 6.59 mins per mile

GRAND TOTAL 71 miles

Once again thanks to David Rowe for the picture taken at the finish of the Bushy Park 5k. It’s the 19th time I’ve run the race and it’s the equal 2nd fastest time ever in far from ideal conditions. There was a pretty strong breeze blowing up the last mile. I reckon a sub 17 will once again be on the cards. Strange how the PB was set on the 1st run and I’ve not been able to go under 17 since.

I’ve run some 400 miles now in 2010 and the good news is the blisters are going away. So that problem is hopefully behind me now. Naturally there is a new problem. The arch of my right foot is starting to hurt and I’m also getting twinges in the arch of the left. I also have a very strange pain on top of my right foot (furthest right cuneiform bone) which looks like bruising. The pain feels like my foot is trying to snap. It’s not acute and may be due to my running shoes. Speaking of which, with 400 miles on the clock I’ll be getting a new pair of Asics Nimbus. I think little foot niggles are a sign that they need replacing. The exact same niggles have occured in the past and I’m pretty sure the problem was cured by parting with coin.

The main injury that has thwarted two previous attempts to go sub 2.45 in the marathon is behaving itself nicely. I’m continuing to stretch both my Gluts and Hamstrings after every run (in addition to doing the ITB, calf and quad stretches). The deep tissue massage with Aurélie (www.thetritouch.co.uk) is also helping massively I’m sure.

So in we go into week 9 and it’s all fitting into place nicely. I have the G3 10k fell race next weekend, the Dorney Half marathon on the 28th March and the 16 mile Kingston Breakfast run on the 11th April. The half marathon should give an idea as to the marathon potential and the Breakfast run will be an excellent indicator of form based on previous years. Fingers crossed that March will be kind to my body. Mentally I’m tip top and looking forward to the challenge. I’ll be doing some running with James Brown (recently went 1.13 at Wokingham) in the next few weeks, he’s also doing the marathon and it will be his first time at London. Here’s how the weekly mileage looks.

Week 1 – 35 miles
Week 2 – 40 miles
Week 3 – 45 miles
Week 4 – 50 miles
Week 5 – 55 miles
Week 6 – 60 miles
Week 7 – 45 miles (first rest week)
Week 8 – 71 miles (yay!)
Week 9 – We’ll see. Aiming for another 70 and will push for 75 in week 10.

The first rest week of 2010

// February 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Races

The running streak is still on! 52 runs in 52 days. Having built up the mileage steadily since the 1st of January the body was crying out for a rest week. So this last week I ran 30 mins every day apart from today, Sunday. I had a great deep tissue massage from Aurelie a The Tri Touch on Tuesday which had me completely shattered on Wednesday morning. I'm always amazed how bad you feel the day after a massage but how great you feel the day after the day after.

So 6 x 30 min runs and then today I ran with Alex Brooks, one of the ForGoodnessShakes boys, for 19.5 miles around Richmond Park and Bushy Park. Great stats. 19.5 miles, average HR of 140 and average speed 7m7s per mile. Pretty happy with that and it compares well to previous marathon campaigns. In fact I'd go as far as saying that I'm in great shape at the moment. Alex was great company and as a 2.34 marathon runner and recent visitor to the Hawaii Ironman I was in the company of a seriously talented athlete. In fact I found out the other night, he doesn't boast at all about his achievements so I googled it, that he ran 2.57 at Ironman UK last year. That is storming running. RESPECT! 

Have just entered John Lunts (HumanRace) Breakfast Run on the 11th April. We'll see how the form is there. Previous outings have results in a 1.34 and a 1.35. I'll be disappointed if I can't get near those times. First race of this campaign and my first race in a LONG time will be the 3rd and final G3 10k fell race over at Newlands Corner on the 6th March. I've got a spanking new pair of Brooks spikes ready for that. So no blacked out toes hopefully, a problem I've suffered with in the past.

So another week down (the 7th actually) and 45 more miles in the tank. I'll be pushing to get 65-70 miles in next week. So far so good with regards to the left knee. I'm keeping both my hamstrings well stretched and the massage is helping a lot I think. Also the blisters seem to be under control for the time being. Bring it all on, I'm excited about this marathon build. It really could happen this year, I could finally run the race I know I can and break the 2.45 barrier. There will be some tears if it happens.

44 runs completed in 44 days….but the going is tough

// February 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Races

Day 44 is done and dusted and I'm nearing the end of week 6. Tomorrow I'll be trying to run 9.1 miles in order to take the weekly total to 60 miles. I'm liking the uniformity of the weekly mileage build. However I'm REALLY struggling with this weeks 60 miles. I've been running tired pretty much every day of the week. I think it's time to introduce a step back week. I'll be taking it easy on Monday and Tuesday but naturally I'll be completing the 30 mins on each of the days. 

Week 1 – 35 miles

Week 2 – 40 miles

Week 3 – 45 miles

Week 4 – 50 miles

Week 5 – 55 miles

Week 6 – 60 miles (hopefully)

What is also making things tough at the moment is the blisters I've got in between both big toes and the adjacent toes. It's very painful and most runs start with taping up my feet. 

Last night I ran 8 miles after work and then only 12 hours later ran 16 miles X country across the North Downs from Newlands Corner over towards Dorking. With snow and ice on the ground coupled with some extremely slippy sections I was glad to complete what was a very tough out and back X country run. Very tired legs. Need to get some sleep now.

38 runs completed and 38 days of 2010 gone

// February 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Races

Thanks to David Rowe for the picture above. Taken at the Bushy Park 5k on 30th Jan (only managed 17.50 here). Having had pretty much all of 2009 off in terms of exercise I was certainly lacking confidence that a sub 2.45 marathon was possible. Being quite impatient I was quite quick to dismiss the chances given the early stats. Not that it stopped me from putting in the effort. It's amazing how every now and again a breakthrough session confirms that rapid improvements are possible and that the form is starting to head towards what i would expect for this time of a marathon build. I'd normally start in late November so starting on January 1st was pretty late really. 

So what are the breakthroughs? One was today. 16 miles @ 6.53mins per mile for an average HR of 140!!! Contrast that with a 12 mile run on the 23rd of January on exactly the same terrain where I averaged 7.07mins per mile for an average HR of 146. 

5 x 1 miles

// February 5th, 2010 // No Comments » // Races

Run number 35 was a delightful track session at St Mary's with Victoria. Stats were as follows

Mile 1 -  1.23,1.26, 1.26, 1.25 = 5.41

Mile 2 – 1.23, 1.26, 1.25, 1.23 = 5.39

Mile 3 – 1.22, 1.23, 1.25, 1.23 =  5.35

Mile 4 – 1.21, 1.25, 1.25, 1.21 =  5.34

Mile 5 – 1.22, 1.24, 1.23, 1.19 = 5.30

So the model track session in terms of improved splits. I'd have liked to have seen more like 5.20s really but I guess that will come in time. It's still only the end of the 6th week of training. Be interested to see what this session looks like in August time. Sore calves now!

24 days, 24 runs and 40 miles this week

// January 24th, 2010 // No Comments » // Races

When I started the 365 day running challenge on the 1st January 2010 I didn't plan on actually doing the London Marathon seriously. Only 24 days into the 365 and I'm already starting to feel strongish and in my head I'm planning on going for the elusive sub 2.45 at London. It seems like every year could be a missed opportunity should I choose not to race London. Not to say a PB couldn't be on the cards at 40+ mind. So the challenge has been a positive one so far. I'm actually really enjoying running every day and also glad to feel like an athlete once again.

The stats so far are 24 runs in 24 days, 114 miles covered and averaging 37.5 mins per day. That's not bad. I've even done one race. I'm not far off completing something I give a lot of my athletes to do if they are considering developing there running quickly or coming back from a layoff……30 runs in 30 days. 

Training Watches – The Garmin 310XT

// January 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Articles, Training

So I've comitted to running 30 mins every day for 365 days. How on earth am I going to stay motivated for that? I've bought the Garmin 310XT of course! I've always loved the bits of tech that have been developed for athletes to monitor their progress. Having used the Garmin 305 in the 2008 marathon I've been waiting for a watch that is waterproof (i.e. can be used for swimming) and the Garmin 405 was a little disappointing in that it did everything that I wanted, except it wasn't waterproof. The 310XT is a Heart Rate monitor, measures speed / distance AND it's waterproof. I paid £160 for a 2nd hand version on Ebay.

So for around £70 I spent my paper money on a Polar Edge which was pretty basic in that all it measured was a heartrate and I think it had a self lit screen! The Edge lasted for years and I was still using it in 2001 for the London Marathon.

When I got into triathlon more seriously in 2002 I realised that I wanted something a little more sophisticated. So I purchased a Polar S710. Apart from it falling apart in the last few years this watch was excellent. I loved downloading all the exercise files into the Polar software and pouring over the data, which even included a gradient profile.

I was bugged by the fact that the S710 didn't do distance and round about that time Timex brought out a groundbreaking watch called the Timex 50 Speed & Distance (there was a Timex 100 which allowed you to take 100 time splits). The main feature was that it measured speed and distance using GPS. The downside was that the GPS signal was picked up by a rather bulky receiver that strapped onto your arm. Never really did like the watch and probably didn't really justify the spend on it. It was pretty unrealiable in town or under trees but I did use it to pace my marathon PB!

30 mins every day for 365 days

// January 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Training

I'm back with a challenge that will hopefully kick start some exercise in 2010. The last year has probably been one of the most sendentary for me. Most of my spare time was spent learning to play golf (I took this up in late 2008). I managed to get my handicap down to 15 but completely let the fitness stuff go (apart from an outing at the National Relays in Nottingham in August).

Many of the athletes I've coached have used the 30 runs lasting 30 mins over 30 days to get back into running. I thought I'd take it a step further an extend this out to a whole year. The challenge is simply to run for 30 mins every day for 365 consecutive days. Naturally the runs can be longer but the key is to run for 30 mins. The good news is I've completed 2 out of the 365 and it's going well! My main area of concern will be staying injury free so I'll be stretching well after every session. Illness is probably the other main enemy to the challenge and I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for that.

I've got a place in the London Marathon in April and was toying with the idea of deferring it to 2011. However it might be nice, actually maybe nice isn't the right word, to actually run round in under 3 hours without putting too much into the training. Running sub 2.45 will take 70 to 80 miles a week of training but surely it's possible to run under 3 hours with around 40 miles of training.