I can. I will

Week 4: Good progress

icaniwill — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:50:47 +0000

Another pretty good week’s training – even if I did skip the 8M fartlek midweek. 35M for the week (130M so far this month).

I ran the Folksworth 15 this morning – further than I have ever run before. And I ran it faster than I hoped. And it felt good. Really good.

As it was a two lap race, the plan was to run a negative split strategy and see where I was at the half-way point. As it happens, my slow start was a little less slow than I had planned – 8:20 min/mile – but it didn’t seem to matter, because I felt good. The first hill wasn’t too bad – except for the headwind. The second was a little harder. Then there was a nice flat run for a couple of miles, with a tailwind and side wind coming over the fields. Then at about 6 miles, I met up with a guy from work. That was definitely a good move. I’ve never trained with anyone before, or run with anyone in a race, but I might have to re-think that strategy in the future. The second lap was tough – not least the climb up hill #1 into a headwind that felt like a gale but (that mile apart) we managed to knock about 30s off each of the other miles. I ran the first half in 60 minutes, the second half in 58 minutes.

There is no way that:
a) I would have run that pace in a training run;
b) I would have run the back 7 miles in sub-8 min/mile without Matt to keep me focused;
c) I would have recorded a sub-2hr time.

I do believe all the training is paying off. Which is good – there is plenty more of it to come!
I’m looking forward to the next 14 – though I’m quite glad that next week is a recovery week.

Five miles in the rain

icaniwill — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:09:10 +0000

And very enjoyable it was too.

Two or three months ago five miles was a proper run. It’s amazing how quickly things change. These days, it counts as recovery run. Or at least it would do if I could remember to run a bit slower.

So I went out for a recovery run at lunchtime today in the cold rain and really enjoyed myself. That takes me up to 20 miles for the week – not as many as I hoped (or planned) but then I didn’t plan for feeling quite so rubbish on Wednesday.

Hopefully, the slightly reduced mileage will help me run a good quality 15M in the Folksworth 15 on Sunday. If the 9M I ran last night is anything to go by, I’m getting fitter and faster – maybe the training is starting to pay off!

tempus fugit

icaniwill — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:05:04 +0000

It was 5 years ago last Monday since I had my hip re-surfaced.

It seems incredible really – I don’t know where the time has gone.

Training plan: 3 weeks in

icaniwill — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:03:54 +0000

So far, so good.
I’ve managed to keep pretty much to the plan. The quantity is there, I need to work on the quality a little more – I think I’m still running the fast sessions too slowly and the slow ones too fast – but I still have plenty of time.

One week down, just seventeen to go

icaniwill — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:17:24 +0000

Week One of the Pfitzinger and Douglas 55M/w plan is now complete. I think it went pretty well really. The midweek 9-miler was a little tough for some reason and the Sunday 12-miler was strangely daunting, but I did it all pretty much within my target time ranges.

Week Two is going to be more challenging. More miles plus working evenings should make it tricky. I’m determined to do it though… starting with an 8-miler tonight.

Races entered

icaniwill — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:54:01 +0000

Signed up for the Folksworth 15 and the Stamford Striders St Valentines 30K in January and February respectively. They fit in nicely with my training plan.
I intend to run a race in March too and there are a couple of half-marathons on 11 March, but a half doesn’t fit in quite so well, so I may have to rethink that a little.

A very good month

icaniwill — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:26:00 +0000

November was a good training month. Definitely got my running mojo back!

126 miles in total with a weekly mileage of between 15 and 40 miles is a pretty good result for me. Not least because I don’t have any races lined up in the near future with which to motivate myself. I have also discovered the joy of running different routes. Thanks to the genius that is Fetchpoint of my 23 runs in November, I’ll bet that 20 of them were different. For a bloke who had one ‘usual’ route and a couple of alternative routes, that’s pretty good progress. It is also amazing how far you can run while still staying within a 1 mile radius of your house – I have managed 4 or 5 miles running up and down streets without ever leaving my 2 mile diameter circle.

I’ve been reading Advanced Marathoning this month too. I plan to run the low-mileage 18 week plan in there, starting just after Christmas. Whether a newbie should be reading a book with “Advanced” in its title is questionable, but we’ll see where it takes me.

Five months to go

icaniwill — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:12:53 +0000

Just 5 months until the MK Marathon.

An excellent month’s training under my belt… here’s to 5 more of the same!

A good week

icaniwill — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:48:20 +0000

After a slack month in October, finally I got my running shoes on this week.

I managed to get out every day and clocked up 40 miles in the process. (Thanks in part to the fun provided by Fetchpoint.)

I know it won’t last, but it’s good to make the most of it while I’m in the groove. Long may it continue.

Regime change

icaniwill — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:48:53 +0000

Oh well.
Resolutions are made to be broken.
The new regime lasted nearly a week, then it stopped. I had about a month off being generally lazy. I ran about 10 miles throughout the whole of October.
I’m back on track now – 15 miles this week already. I just need something to keep me focused.
The plan now is to build up some steady miles, ready for a proper push in the New Year.