Week 7 - Change of Career & An Awful Race at Blackpool

Week Commencing 16th February

Feb 23rd , 2015  /  Week 7 / 9 weeks to go

That's week 7 of London Marathon training complete. Just 9 weeks to go. Can't believe I'm halfway there after next week is complete. A new job is also on the horizon. After almost 4 years with my current company I handed in my weeks notice to move onto something different. I've been driving for 8 years now and was getting very board so a change was needed. More on this another time as at time of writing this I've not yet started my new job.

Monday the usual steady 5 mile recovery run was done. Tuesday I was late down the track due to work commitments so changed my session to a quick 8 x 2 minute intervals on the track. A nice mild evening on the track. Wednesday again work commitments stopped me from running so postponed this run until Friday. Thursday I ran over to the track and ran 4 mile at around 6:45 pace. A bit quicker than planned marathon pace but felt very comfortable. I know it was ran on the track so it will feel easier anyway but to think I ran 3 mile at 6:50 pace at the start of all this and I was hanging out of my arse! I defiantly feel fitter. Friday I ran what I should of Wednesday. I ran a steady 6 mile. I felt a little tired and sluggish but just put this down to me running on rest night and it being the end of the working week. However about an hour or two after my run I went to be soon as I had my tea as I felt like rubbish. Headache, kept feeling cold, sweats etc. Just felt like I was coming down with something. After an awful nights sleep I was scheduled just for the 3 mile with me racing the next day. Big mistake running this. Woke up with a headache and again felt awful. I ran with Keedy and was battling with 9-10 minute mile pacing. After this run I went for a lie down. Felt a little better Saturday evening but not 100%. An early night with an early rise Sunday.


Race Day - The Great North West Half Marathon

One of my build up to London Marathon races. An early rise seen me getting up at 5:20am. Still pitch black outside. After quickly getting ready and some breakfast I headed over to Keedy's for 6 and we set off for the long drive to Blackpool. Smooth drive over apart from us dropping our guts a few times. Swung by to Peters Golf Spa and picked him up when we arrived at Blackpool then headed to The Hilton Hotel on the North promenade where the race started and finished. Days leading up to the race bad weather was forecast (Gale force winds and heavy rain/snow) but when we got out the car it was actually ok. A bit on the cold side but overcast and calm. Ideal racing conditions really. A couple of hours later however the tables would turn weather wise. We arrived in good time (8:30) so decided to go for a "mooch" which Keedy calls a walk. All I wanted was a coffee but after seeing so many run down B&B's, hotels and grotty sex shops we headed back to the hotel and got a coffee from there. The race organisers were selling cups of coffee/tea for £1. I took one sip from mine and had to bin it. One of the worst cups of coffee I have ever tasted. Not only that, it was decaf! No good for me that. Race start soon came round so after a quick warm up we were stood waiting to go at 11am. The wind picked up and was gusty and the heavens opened. A cold bitter strong wind, along with sleet and rain was the conditions that greeted us on the off. I thought to myself nothing we can do so just cracked on with it. The route was 2 small loops to start with going up and down the promenade then 2 large loops. When you came back up head on against the wind you knew about it! I found the route awful. I remember passing the mile 9 marker at mile 5 and thought I've got to come past all this again. Was soul destroying. I was honestly expecting a simple out and back route. I was holding 6:50's pace quite easily with the wind on my back but going back against the wind was hard graft and slowed me down considerably. I remember passing a lot of runners/walkers struggling on my last few mile. My last 2 mile was horrendous. I've ran a lot of winters races, trained in some harsh winter conditions, ran night races over the moors etc but racing in that has got to be up there amongst the toughest conditions I've ran in. I finished race in just over 1 hour 33 minutes. Overall target was to just slip under 1:30. Naturally disappointed with the time but considering I struggled running 3 miles the day before and seeing everyone's` times were a good 2-4 minutes over it made me content. At the end we were giving our medals and t-shirts which were not too bad. It took me about half an hour to stop shivering and feel normal again. Overall not a bad race is you like your flat coastal routes and don't mind some loops chucked in so it gets a little repetitive. But you need the weather on your side. Would I do it again? Absolutely not!

Me Before Race

Finishers Medal 

Monday - 5 mile recovery @ 7:58 pace

Tuesday - Speed - 8 x 2 minute intervals on track. 5 mile covered

Wednesday - Rest (Due to work commitments)

Thursday - 6.8 mile with 4 Mile @ marathon pace over track

Friday - 6 mile @ 8:08 pace

Saturday - 3 mile @ 9:33 pace

Sunday - Great North West Half Marathon (Blackpool) - 1:33:09 @ 7:07 pace

This weeks weigh in : 174 Lbs (Starting weight 184.5 Lbs/Target weight 160 Lbs)

Lost so far since 3rd January: 10.5 lbs 

Weekly mileage - 40.3


Week conclusion and looking ahead.

Not a bad week. Managed to knock off another 1.5lb keeping me on target. Ran a decent paced half marathon, if anything got a hard 13 mile run out of it. Character building Dolly said to me. I think though next time I feel like cack I'm just going to sack off running. Felt so ill Friday night and running Saturday for the sake of 3 mile. Is it really worth it??
A drop in mileage this week but back to it next week with an expected mileage of about 60 miles.

One last thing, I've never been to Blackpool before. So many people have told me what a dive the place is and I tell you what, what a sh*thole it was. looks so outdated and run down.

Week 6 - Torn Apart From My Beloved Nike Vomero's

Week Commencing 9th February

Feb 15th , 2015  /  Week 6 / 10 weeks to go

That's week 6 of London Marathon training complete. Just 10 weeks to go. Its hard to think I've potentially only got 6-7 weeks left of the hard training then taper will start. Its been a great week for training. A whopping 57 miles ran and feeling good. Like I said on my Facebook post earlier today its now I feel the marathon training has really started. Feeling tired on writing this after a good 20 mile long run. Just got back from a dog socialisation session with Lilly so I'm now ready to chill for the rest of the day. On Thursday I received an email from England Athletics to say they had received my change of club application and its been sent to the eligibility committee and I should hear back next week subject to satisfactory completion of checks. Who would of thought changing a running club would be such a faff on? A £10 admin fee for this to. Ridiculous I know but it needs to be done for everything to be official. All going well I'll be good to go from 1st March I reckon.

Onto this weeks training, Monday was a 5 mile recovery run. Legs actually felt good considering the long run the day before. Tuesday I was over the track running 20 x 200m intervals. Efforts were controlled and not full belt. Was a cold night on the track but no wind, rain or sleet which was a bonus. Wednesday I had another good catch up with Brian and ran an 11 mile medium long run. Felt a little tired towards the end of this run. Thursday another speed session over the track with the harriers hammering out 5 x 3 minute efforts. I was covering around 860 metres in the 3 minutes so was pleased with that. The last 800m rep session I was struggling to get under 3 minutes and that was not that long ago. Friday rest rest rest! My favourite evening of the week. I was working Saturday morning this week so not parkrun was ran. When I got in I ran a 6.6 mile run to Sadberge and back with Keedy. Thrown in a couple of hills for good measure and picked up a the pace a little coming back. After this run I left my trainers on my front door step to air off and they had a little mud on them. Something I do quiet often. Bad mistake! When I went to get them this morning some kind person has nicked them. They had well over 1000 miles in them and were not the best looking trainers because of their age but still that's beside the point. A later night than I would of liked last night but was up early still this morning for today's 20 mile long run. Really enjoyed today. Different route again and 19 of us making the run go by quite quick. Admittedly felt tired on the last couple of mile but I'm running in a depleted state on the long ones. Ran it this morning on just a coffee again. That's put me on 57 mile for the week. Not ran 20 in a long time too.



Monday - 5 mile recovery @ 8:06 pace

Tuesday - Speed - 20 x 200m intervals on track targeting around 40-45 second pace. 8.7 mile covered

Wednesday - 11 mile medium long run @ 7:57 pace

Thursday - Speed - 5 x 3 minute intervals with 90 second recovery. 5.5 mile covered

Friday - Rest

Saturday - 6.6 mile easy run @ 7:42 pace

Sunday - 20 mile long run @ 7:50 pace

This weeks weigh in : 175.5 Lbs (Starting weight 184.5 Lbs/Target weight 160 Lbs)

Lost so far since 3rd January: 9 lbs 

Weekly mileage - 57



Week conclusion and looking ahead.

Another great week. 57 mile in. Managed to lose another 1.5 lbs keeping me on target. Now lost 9 in total now. Not bad as I didn't get off to the best of starts this week with my nutrition. Feeling tired today on writing this after the 20 miler. Felt a little tired on the end of the mid week medium long run but other than that felt great this week. 

Next week will see my mileage drop a bit so a brief rest bite. No long run too. I will be running the Blackpool Half Marathon next Sunday which I plan to test out the marathon pace. Will be my first road race of 2015. Will be setting off about 5:45am so an early start next Sunday! Hopefully the weather will be on our side. A few other harriers will be making the trek over too. Now well into February and I remember scrolling through my Twitter feed last year and reading a short simple piece of advice from @girlwhatruns (Liz Yelling) which I wanted to share.

"February is when marathon training starts to get tough. Fuel well, sleep longer, and don't take risks. Injury/illness free = consistent training"

Week 5 - A Good Week For Progression

Week Commencing 2nd February

Feb 8th , 2015  /  Week 5 / 11 weeks to go

That's week 5 of London Marathon training complete. Now into the 50's for mileage which is when the serious training starts for me. 50+ is not a lot to some but when I'm not training for a marathon anything between 20-30 mile a week is pretty much the standard for me so doubling that already. Legs are feeling good and I'm feeling fitter in myself. I'm going to have to start looking after myself even more. Plenty of foam rolling, stretches, some core stuff and keep tweaking the nutrition. At the time of writing this I've not been in long from an 18 miler and feeling good all things considering. Was a very tough run out today that. Some very testing hills ran but I don't mind that at all. Flat tarmac runs does nothing for me in terms of training effect and their boring.

Onto the week. I started week 5 with the usual boring Monday night recovery run. Ran the usual 5 miler to Sadberge and back. This run is hard to get out for. Always run this on my own, its a Monday and I am always tired on this one. I just think to myself about why I am running this and the big picture. Running down that mall hammering out the final 400 metres or so. Tuesday I ran a decent interval session over the track which consisted of 13 x 400m intervals targeting around the mile/5k pace. So controlled reps and nothing full on. That went well despite the horrible windy and drizzly weather. I think it was actually sleety for a while then the temperature suddenly dropped towards the end as when I was running home the paths and untreated roads were lethal! Wednesday I got out with Brian for a 10 mile medium long run. Was good to get out with Brian. We had a good catch up and it made the run feel a lot shorter than it was. this is what you need for these longer mid week runs. Thursday I headed over the track once again. I had a 5 mile tempo effort planned. I knew a few were over the track so I headed over there. Got a couple of mile warm up in then cracked on with it. Runners will understand how hard these tempo runs can be. At mile 3 I was finding tough and even thought about shortening it to 4 mile but when I got to 4 I thought to myself "its only 1 more mile" and rattled it out. Felt good after doing that so joined a few of the harriers and ran a very fast 2 minute effort then cooled down with Keedy. I was off on Saturday morning so i headed down to the South Park and ran my 58th parkrun. After a sluggish warm up I was not overly fussed in "going for it"so set off at a reserved pace but after I seen my first mile flash 6:36 I didn't feel all that bad so pushed on and cranked up the pace a little. Was pleased to finished 13th out of over 200 runners in a time of 19:49. That was 10 seconds faster than 2 weeks ago so progress was being made. Its only 10 seconds I know but you add that up over the 10k, half marathon and marathon. Still quite a bit off where I need to be but I'll get there. Another reason to be pleased Saturday morning was my weekly weigh in I've lost 1 lb. Now putting me on a 7.5 total loss which puts me bang on par with my 1.5 weekly target. Onto today, a great 18 mile ran with Keedy, Michael King & Justin. Michael knows some great challenging routes around Piercebridge but its nice to get away from the streets of Darlington. Got introduced to "Gilling Bank" over near the A66. That was good to run down but brutal to run back up. After this was done I felt very strong into the 2nd half of the run so upped the pace a bit and finished strong. Through the training so far I'm running the long runs on NOTHING but a coffee when I get up. I'll go more into my reasoning for this another time but on the whole its to help my body become more fat adapted and teach my body to cope with runs when I am in a glycogen depleted state. One thing I am making sure I do though is eat LOTS after the run to replenish and recovery. A mixed carb/protein shake soon as I am finished then a big bowl of porridge with a whey protein shake soon as I get in. I need to work on getting more fluids into me though. I'm sat here right now drinking a coffee!

Monday - 5 mile recovery @ 8:12 pace

Tuesday - Speed - 13 x 400m intervals on track targeting around mile/5k pace. 7.3 mile covered

Wednesday - 10 mile medium long run @ 8:03 pace

Thursday - 5 mile tempo run @ 6:25 pace + 1 x 2 minute effort @ 5:16 pace. 7.9 mile covered

Friday - Rest

Saturday - Darlington South Park parkrun - 19:49 @ 6:24 pace. 5 mile covered inc warm up and cool downs

Sunday - 18 mile long run @ 7:50 pace

This weeks weigh in : 177 Lbs (Starting weight 184.5 Lbs/Target weight 160 Lbs)

Lost so far since 3rd January: 7.5 lbs 

Weekly mileage - 53.4

Paul Cook, Me & "Boy Wonder" Dean Newton @ yesterday's parkrun

Darlington South Park parkrun - 19:49

Week conclusion and looking ahead.

Its been another great week really. Positivity and progression being made. Another 1 lb off on the weight loss attempt. Now on par with my target. Hard to believe I'm half a stone lighter than I was a few weeks ago. Miles still creeping up. Now running excess of 50 mile a week which is proper marathon training territory for me. Ran Saturday's parkrun 10 seconds faster than 2 weeks ago. Feeling strong and fitter in myself so all is good

Next week see's me expecting to run around 58 miles and the release of Fifty Shades of Gray!. Another hard week planned. I have swapped the next 2 weeks of my schedule around as I'm running the Blackpool Half Marathon 2 weeks today. I'm scheduled to run a half marathon next Sunday but running the week afters 20 mile instead if that makes any sense?!? 

Week 4 - January Mileage Record is Broken

Week Commencing 26th January

Feb 1st , 2015  /  Week 4 / 12 weeks to go

That's week 4 of London Marathon training to a close and the first quarter complete. Its been a great month. I have totalled 182 miles for January which is my highest ever mileage for January. 178 miles ran for the first 4 weeks of marathon training so on par with what I have done the previous 2 years, maybe slightly exceeding. Enough on the numbers.

A good week. Started off Monday with the usual 5 mile recovery run to Sadberge and back. Tuesday I ran a speed session over the track which was 7 x 1000m intervals. The reps were fairly controlled and I was targeting 10k pace. Admittedly the last 2 felt like hard work. Overall I felt good on this session though. It was quite mild compared to recent temperatures we have been having. Wednesday I ran with Peter & Justin to Aycliffe and back on a fairly nippy 10 miler. Not the flattest of routes and averaged early 7's on parts so was quite a tough run out. With the added snow showers and cold temperatures returning it was a hard run. Really is horrible running between Darlington and Aycliffe too! Thursday I was back on the track again with the Harriers grafting out 2 minute efforts with a 1 minute recovery. Covering roughly 500m on the efforts. Felt really tired on this one. With snow on the track it was made even more difficult. I cut the session down with me being tired and right calf felt like it was working overtime so I was cautious. Friday a well earned rest day. Saturday I was at work this week so ran later with just a 4 mile steady run with Keedz. We ran round the Barmpton trial route and I seemed to get a little muddy. Onto today I ran a 17.3 miler with Dave, Keedz, Justin, Mike, heather & Corinne. A good run out. Felt fairly comfortable with the miles. Some of the route was on trial tracks. Only thing that ruined it was that bitterly cold wind. Was absolutely baltic!

Monday - 5 mile recovery @ 7:59 pace

Tuesday - Speed - 7 x 1000m intervals on track targeting around 10k pace. 8 mile covered

Wednesday - 10 mile medium long run @ 7:20 pace

Thursday - Speed - 6 x 2 minutes effort. 5.2 mile covered

Friday - Rest

Saturday - 4 mile steady @ 8:08 pace

Sunday - 17.3 mile long run @ 7:58 pace

This weeks weigh in : 178 Lbs (Starting weight 184.5 Lbs/Target weight 160 Lbs)

Lost so far since 3rd January: 6.5 lbs 

Weekly mileage - 49.8

Why are my legs so dirty? Keedz & myself after Saturday's 4 mile steady

Week conclusion and looking ahead.

Its been a great week really. Miles still climbing up steadily. Another 1 lb off on the weight loss attempt. I would of liked that extra 0.5lb so I could say I've lost half a stone this month but I'm still ahead of my target by half a pound so I'll take it. A loss is a loss. Hit my highest January mileage ever. Oh and I decided to give Strava another go. I gave up on this before as it was altering all of my Garmin uploads. Like this week its claiming I ran 17.4 when in fact I ran 17.3 so that's kindly saying I've hit 50 mile this week. I like it for its interaction with other runners. Like the runners version of Facebook type of thing. Anyone wanting to follow me I am "darlorunner" on there. I've increased my protein intake this week by having more omelettes for breakfast now rather than bowls of cerial and have an afternoon shake. Also a shake after a long workout to keep my recovery enhanced. 
Also this week draws a close to the first quarter of marathon training. To me that's the hardest part. Getting all the cogs going again from the festive blow out and blowing off them cobwebs. I'm now feeling fitter and stronger. Still a long way off but I'm heading in the right direction. It was this time (end of week 4) last year I got injured and pulled my calf so touch wood I'm remaining injury free. I really would like this cold weather to do one. The nights are getting ever so slight lighter now. Looking forward to grinding out the miles in some spring sunset sunshine. Next week see's me expecting to run around 53 miles. Anyone wanting to join me for a 10 miler on Wednesday the company is always appreciated. Need to work more on stretching this week specially after runs as its something I am neglecting and water intake. Need to try and get a minimum of 2 litres into me. I'll be lucky if I'm hitting that at the minute. 


Rant of the week!

No names will be mentioned here but its come to my attention that certain individual/s have been whispering behind my back about my leaving Quakers and joining another club. For starters I have not joined another running club (yet). Secondly the person/s are just cowards and can't say none of this to my face. Thirdly if I want to join another running club that's MY business and why does it bother YOU so much? Haters are motivators and this will just make me more determined to become a better runner. YOUR negativity is MY inspiration.
That's better :-) I was going to put this on Facebook but there is that much winging on and negativity as it is I thought I would save it for here.