Heading towards Stratford

It's been pretty quiet on the running front. I've eased myself back into running slowly after finishing the marathon. That schedule is due to finish this weekend with an 11 mile run. After that I am free to do as I wish.

I've decided to run the Shakespeare marathon in Stratford next April. Training for this will start on the week of Christmas! That's about 7 weeks away so until then I'll keep ticking over with four or five runs per week including a double figure long run on the weekend.

I'm going to give the Hansons marathon method another go as this time I should be a lot fitter and more prepared for it. Hopefully running a spring marathon will mean fewer interruptions such as holidays so I might be able to go for a PB, and even try for the ever elusive sub 3:30.

This Sunday I'm going to head down to the canal for my long run for the first time in a long time. This is because over the summer a teenage girl was found murdered down there and apart from not being allowed to run along the canal due to the police investigation it just didn't seem right to do so anyway. I unwittingly ran past the spot where her body was eventually found just two days after she had gone missing (although was not aware since it had not been made public at that point). They always say it's runners and dog walkers who discover these things. Just thinking about it made me feel queasy. The fact that anyone could be attacked let alone murdered on the canal is shocking enough. It's a very popular route for runners, cyclists, walkers and people live in houseboats along it so for anyone to be attacked there is very unusual. The prime suspect was found to have taken his own life not too far away in a wooded park. All very unsavoury and a complete shock to the area. I've lived here for sixteen years and this is the first time anything like this has happened.

So, I'm going to get back down to the canal and see how it feels. I've always loved running there and really shouldn't let these things put me off. They are the exception not the norm. Life goes on regardless.

Chester Marathon

Well, I did it. And in under 4 hours as well. And I didn't have to stop. And I thoroughly enjoyed it too!

Chester is a great marathon. Well organised, well supported and a great route that takes in both the city and the surrounding countryside. It was the same route as last year so I had a fairly good idea of what to expect and that helped a lot.

I woke up early, had a light breakfast (cereal and coffee) and then my wife drove me down to the racecourse for the start. The town cryer gave a great speech and then we were off.

My plan was to run at around 5:30 per km which would bring me in under the magical 4 hours. The course left the racecourse, swept round the city centre, under the clock and then over bridge crossing the river Dee and out into the countryside. Looking at my watch I was running at 5:20 per km. A bit faster than planned but comfortable. I had settled into my pace and felt fine. This time I had decided to take my iPod Nano with me since I wasn't chasing a PB so I thought I would listen to some podcasts. I know there are strong feelings about wearing headphones while running official events but I have no problem so long as all noise is not blocked out completely. Listening to podcasts fulfils this criteria so I don't see it as an issue.

My fuelling plan this year was to take a gel every 3 miles. Gels were supplied on the course but only from mile 9 onwards and even then only every 6 miles after. I took 2 gels with me and then took another 2 gels at each station. This allowed me to take a gel every 3 miles and worked out great.

The first 22 miles were fine (if you can call running 22 miles fine). Then came the last 4 miles. Regardless of taking the race comparatively easy the last 4 miles are always tough, My brain screamed for me to stop but all I had to do was tell my brain to shut up. Experience kicks in and you override the central governor. This is not going to last long. This will be over. You will feel so much better if you get to the finish line without stopping. These are the things you tell yourself.

Back over the A56 and then it's down to the final 2 miles. And the hill at Sandy Lane! It's not much of a hill. Not in real terms, but at the end of a marathon it looms large like a mountain! 500 yards of slow and steady and then it's the final push to the racecourse again. Swinging left down onto the river for the last mile. Some of my wife's family were supporting along the route so I put on my best game face and posed for a photo or two as I "zoomed" past.

Then I finally got to the racecourse and the finish line was in sight. 300m. Not too long but long enough to seem like miles away. Managed to see my wife in the crowd so put on my "not in any pain whatsoever" face. She took a video of me sprinting towards the finish line. I say sprinting but since I have seen the video it is more like a fast walk. With about 50m to go I was on my own and decided to put on a little show for the crowd so I airplaned toward the finish line in a zig-zag. Once I crossed I had to stop almost immediately because my foot felt like it was about to fall off. The hubris of showboating!

Anyway, I finished in just over 3:48 which I was ecstatic about. I picked up my free technical top (very nice), downed a couple of bottles of water and then found my wife. Then I put my feet up for the next 4 hours while my wife drove back to London.

So now I'm in the post marathon bliss of easy runs. The next five weeks is about getting back up to speed and distance without injuring myself. My first run was the Friday after the marathon. It was four miles and I felt shattered! This was followed by another 4 miler and then a 5 miler on Sunday,

I have another 5 miler tomorrow, then another, and another and then a 7 miler! It's going to be a fair few weeks before I get to double figure runs again!

Insania!

So there I was, tootling along with getting my running mojo back. Running four times a week with a decent distance on the weekend. This went on for about four weeks and I looked forward to going out every morning for a run in familiar territory.

Then on Monday I received a letter. Less of a letter actually, more of a pack. A race pack. A race pack for the Chester marathon. The same Chester marathon that I thought I hadn't entered. In fact I was so sure I hadn't entered that a month ago I was going to pay the entrance fee to make sure I got a discounted rate but decided against because I felt like I wasn't going to be ready to run.

Turns out I must have entered as soon as entries opened after the last Chester marathon. This left me in a quandary. I'm in Chester on race weekend. I've paid the entrance fee and I am reasonably trained. Not exactly marathon trained but enough to get around. Do I run it even though the chances of getting a PB are slim? Do I run it knowing that I haven't run any distance over 16 miles so far this year? Do I run it even though I lost my running mojo over a month ago?

I'll do anything for a free banana and bottle of water.

So how do I approach this run? This morning I went for a 12 mile run at marathon pace (assuming I'm going for a 3:30 marathon). I found it very tough, so I think that's answered the question of whether I should run it as a race. So, if my PB is out of the question, what pace should I go for? What is my goal?

I would like to think that I can still get around in under 4 hours even though I am not fully trained up. My legs have plenty of miles in them and if I start off slow then I should be able to treat it as an extended training run. By 9 minute miling I should be able to enjoy myself, take it relatively easy and hopefully up the pace in the last 6 miles. Best laid plans of mice and men and all that but I think it's a reasonable goal to aim for. It'll also give me more experience of the distance. I can't imagine it will be easy (26.2 miles never is) but I should at least feel better finishing than I did last year.

Race report will come shortly afterwards.

Mr. Mojo Risin

Coming back from holiday always brings a case of the blues. This time was no different except I had to get up and run 5 miles, 16 miles, 5 miles, 10 miles, 11 miles and 15 miles in successive days before heading off again to Riga for a long boys' weekend with friends from work.

Coming back from that holiday (I can recommend Riga as a very nice place to spend two or three days) and I was faced with another string of consecutive runs which would cumulate with a 20 miler on Sunday.

It all started to feel like a chore and my running mojo dipped significantly. So much so that what with my disrupted training due to minor niggles and holidays together with this lack of running spark I have decided to pull out of the Chester marathon this year (although I hadn't entered it yet so am not really pulling out if anything, rather not entering).

It's a shame but I like to run because I LIKE to run. It shouldn't feel like an arduous job, it's my hobby that I enjoy.

What to do instead? Well, I've found a maintenance running plan that I will use for four runs a week that will be run at my preferred pace. I'll also start looking for a spring marathon (assuming I fail to get in London again!) when I'll hopefully not have so many disruptions getting in the way. I don't usually go on holiday during the spring (honeymoon notwithstanding) so it should be easier to maintain a proper schedule.

I'll update next time on whether the mojo has returned or if I've slumped into an ever decreasing circle of despair!

Horses for courses

You never know what to expect when planning training runs on holiday. When I was in the US on a road trip I was able to keep my running schedule because the weather and conditions were perfect. Last year in Cyprus I had to drastically reduce my plan due to the extremely hot weather which meant no speed work or long runs over 8 miles.

So far in Italy I have had a mixed bag. In Amalfi I was scheduled to run one 5 miler which I managed although the roads are very much in the undulating category so I was pleased to not have to run any more than that.

In Rome I was due to run some longer runs, 10 miles plus. This is not an easy thing to do. The roads are small, busy, undulating. There are no clear running paths or areas. Also, the weather so far this holiday has been almost Cyprus hot so not conducive to quality training. My plan then has been altered to running what I can when I can just so I can maintain fitness. It's almost like treating the two weeks of holiday as if you are coming back from a short injury. So, with that in mind I was able to run two more 5 milers in Rome.

I'm now in Florence, about to depart for Genoa and I've managed another 5 mile run along the River Arno. It's been the best course to run so far, flat and criss-crossing the river over numerous bridges including the Ponte Vecchio which is lined with old shops from the 15th century.

Because of the amount of walking I've done and stairs I've climbed on this holiday through sightseeing I have managed to slightly pull my left groin muscle which means I really am having to treat this holiday as if I am coming back from a short injury.

My hope now is to run at least once in each new location we visit (4 remaining, Genoa, Lake Como, Venice and Bologna) and to run at least 5 miles in each. Ideally I would like to run for all of the remaining days of the holiday (5) but we'll see how I feel.

Once I get back I can pick up my schedule again although I am away for the weekend after I return for another short break, this time with friends from work so I will have to cram my runs in before I leave. After that it should be normal service resumed until the marathon itself.

Hopefully I'll update again before the end of the holiday.

Pre-holiday cramming

I am five days into eight days of running with no rest days. That's what I need to do to be able to go on holiday without losing any training.

Sunday saw me running down the Grand Union Canal towards Paddington as I said in my last post. It has been very hot here in London over the past few weeks but fortunately on Sunday morning it was overcast for much of the run with a nice breeze. That together with the canal itself made for a very pleasant run indeed, if it's possible for 15 miles to be very pleasant.

I ran an interval session yesterday of 8 miles with 10x100m strides, today was 4 miles recovery and tomorrow is an 11 miles medium long run. It's tiring but I feel like I'm making progress. My legs feel stronger and I am definitely fitter but I'm looking forward to a two day break on the weekend when we go on holiday.

On Friday morning I have to run 16 miles with the last 10 at marathon pace. I'm working on Friday so this means I've got to get up around 4am in order to get the run in before I set off to work. This will be the earliest I've ever got up to go running. Hopefully I won't fall asleep in work!

We are going on holiday to Italy for two weeks, driving around the country from the south to the north. I've been looking for routes to run at each location we stop at although I may have to end up running short laps near each hotel since it can be quite tricky finding decent routes in places that I am unfamiliar with. That said, I'm looking forward to running around the Amalfi coast, Rome, Lake Como and Venice. When we drove around the west coast of the U.S. I ran some of my most memorable runs ever, although I'm not sure anything will be able to match running over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I'll try and update whilst on holiday but that depends on internet access and whether I'm not too lazy!

No news is good news, right?

So, one week and bit into the P+D 12 week schedule and things are all tickety-boo. Shin splints are gone (for now at least) and I've managed to run all the allotted training runs.

I had forgotten that with P+D it requires a fairly long mid-week run. Last week was 9 miles, this morning 11 miles! This meant getting up at 5am and being out of the house by 5:30. But it helps beat the heat of the summer morning as well as give me enough time to cool down afterwards.

Sunday saw me running 13 miles with the last 8 at marathon pace. It was tough but achievable, with the promise of a rest day the next morning to help spur me along. I also found a new park to run around. Northala fields in Greenford. There are three artificial hills created out of the rubble of the old Wembley Stadium. It's quite the tourist spot for this who like to stare at the beauty of a road that is the A40.

My mid-week run pace appears a little slower than I would like but maybe I will make speed improvements as the weeks go by.  On Thursday I will be doing 4 miles of threshold pace which is one of my least favourite types of runs but then I'll have a 15 miler to look forward to on Sunday. One of my favourite 15 mile routes is down the Grand Union Canal towards Paddington and I haven't run it for about a year so it will great to reacquaint myself with it.

If everything holds up over the next few weeks I'll enter the Chester marathon once I get back from holiday. This time I'm determined to beat 3:30!

A new hope

I took a week off running to ease my shin splints and thought that I would have to pull out of the Chester Marathon (not that I've even entered yet). A week can seem like an eternity for a runner and this was no different.

Finally, after a week I went for a 4 mile run at my own pace to see how I felt. It went well. Not much complaining in the legs and I felt good afterwards.

With this in mind I started thinking of looking for a 12 week schedule that would take me up to the date of the marathon. I knew I would have to abandon the Hanson method but was hopeful of finding an alternative. Luckily Pfizinger and Douglas do a 12 week schedule that should do the job nicely.

Last year I followed the P+D up to 55 miles schedule for 18 weeks and managed to PB in Chester. From looking online a lot of people preferred the 12 week schedule because it provides more focus, what with it being closer to the actual race and that (6 weeks closer!).

So, this morning I ran 8 miles with 10x100m strides and that went well. No issues with my legs but I'm not counting my chickens yet. I still need to see how a week of training will go but I'm definitely more hopeful than I was last week.

I've even managed to rearrange runs so that I'm able to run whilst on holiday but not all the time (about 50% of days).

Tomorrow I have a 9 mile run planned so at the moment it's onwards and upwards.

On the edge of the precipice

My shin splints are not getting better. Or at least I don't think they are. So much so that I decided not to do my speed work session this morning. From looking online the suggestion is to stop running for two weeks and then start again gradually. Others seem to think that you should cut back on mileage and not do any speed work at all. From looking at my running data online the last time I had shin splints was two years ago and I stopped running for a whole month!

I'm not quite sure what to do, if I stop running altogether then it means that I won't run Chester this year. I mean, I could but I'm not interested in running it if I can't have the best chance of breaking 3:30. And stopping running and doing no speed work is not the best chance that I can manage. Maybe if it was London or another of the big marathons I would just go ahead regardless of time but the only reason I wanted to run Chester (and Manchester earlier this year that I pulled out of due to my ankle) was to break my PB.

My last hope is getting up tomorrow morning and seeing how I feel. If I can run the speed session tomorrow that I was meant to run this morning then there is hope. But I'm not optimistic about it.

It's a shame also because I ran 12 miles on Sunday and felt amazing. The shin splints hurt for the first few miles as always but once that pain subsided then I settled in to my pace nicely and ran pretty much most of the Ealing half marathon course. It was a shame I had to stop.

If I wake up tomorrow and my shins hurt then my choices are one of two. I rest for a week before trying again. Then I run reduced distance for the next three weeks up until I go to Italy on holiday where I will do a bit of running (maybe three or four times a week) just to keep my fitness up. Once I come back then depending on how I feel I could either train for 10 weeks and aim for a half marathon at the end of October if I can find one to enter or I just run a maintenance schedule of no more than 35 miles per week that will take me into the winter when I can start to prepare for a spring marathon (maybe Manchester again, but more successfully this time by getting to the start line!).

Tomorrow is a big day.

Going the distance

I'm in week 5 of the Hanson 18 week marathon training schedule and it's starting to fit into place.

On the one hand there are no monster long runs to look forward to (or dread). The longest I've run so far is 10 miles and I'm only due to run 12 miles this weekend. On the other hand all the other runs during the week are longer than I have been used to in the past. No single run is less than 6 miles. It all adds a cumulative tiredness into the legs which I believe is the point of the training methodology.

Also, the interval runs which are on Tuesday are run faster than I have previously been required to. Essentially they are somewhere between 5k and 10k pace which doesn't sound too bad but being on the sixth day in a row of running they can feel very tough. Fortunately they are followed by a rest day (hoorah!). This week the intervals were 5x1km which I found very hard going indeed. I think I picked the wrong route because there was a slight incline which added to the toughness. Next week I will be running a pyramid so will need to choose a flatter route to help me maintain pace better.

Apart from the interval sessions I love the training. My foot/ankle is holding up. I do have a slight shin splint on my left leg but am hoping this will ease up as it gets stronger. I'm also looking forward to running some new routes although that gets harder and harder as time goes by. I think I must have run pretty much every road, canal and dirt path within a 5 mile radius.

I am going on holiday to Italy for the first two weeks of August. It's going to be a road trip from the south to the north. It's bound to impact my training somehow but I'll see if I can minimise as much as possible. The last road trip my wife and I went on was to the west coast of America and I still managed to fit in about 80% of my training runs including a 20 mile run in San Francisco!

The weather is much warmer at the moment which is great for morning running. At that time of day it's cool but not cold. Also there are a lot more runners about due to the weather no doubt. It will be interesting to see how many remain when the mornings get darker and the temperature drops below zero! Still, make hay while the sun shines.

Mmm-Bop

So, I've finally managed to start the Hanson marathon method.

Last week I clocked up 40 miles for the first time in about 9 months. I came through with no niggles or issues. To be fair it's only the second week of the plan so it shouldn't be too difficult (I missed the first due to a spasm in my back remember!).

Anyway, on the Tuesday I was supposed to run a speed session (12 x 400m fast) but didn't feel up for it. I considered whether I was biting off more than I could chew. So, I decided that I'd follow the training plan for the rest of the week (whilst adding in an extra session to make up for the missed speed session) and see how I felt. If it was too much then I'd choose a less strenuous plan.

By the weekend I was more conditioned to the rigours of the schedule and felt like I could follow it. So today I ran another speed session (8 x 600m fast) and came through tired but successful. This gives me confidence that I'll be able to complete the training and be ready for the marathon in October. Speed sessions are always hard and it takes a while for me to enjoy them but normally by the end of the training plan I look forward to them more than any other session. Maybe I'm a masochist! I do find they test you more than any other type of session, even tempo sessions are easier. Although, I have a tempo session on Thursday so I may be eating my words by then!

Back, back, back. Ow.

I ran the BUPA 10k a couple of weeks ago now. It was a hot day and I met up with my wife's family members who were also running. Good organisation, plenty of toilets and a decent wave system of releasing the runners.

I was in one of the front waves and set off at a decent pace. My plan was to go off at 45 minute pace or a bit faster and then see how it goes. This went well until about 4km when my lack of training and fitness started to tell. I slowed slightly which helped because the weather started to heat up even more.

Due to the doubling back nature of the course, at about 7km I started to see my wife's family members coming the other way. Managed to get a high five in as we crossed paths.

Finally managed to get over the line in 47:01 which is not too bad given the amount of training I'd done and the conditions. I went back to the 200m to go line and started cheering in fellow runners. After everyone had crossed we all went to the Strand and had a few beers. And by a few I mean loads. Can't really remember getting home but do remember having a great time.

This week the Hanson method marathon training was due to start on Thursday. I say due to because I didn't manage to start at all. I was on a business trip to the Netherlands so took my running gear and had planned out a 6 mile route around the area near the hotel.

I woke up on Wednesday, went for a shower and went for breakfast in the hotel. As I walked down the corridor my back spasmed and by the time I go to the breakfast room I was doubled over. I couldn't stand straight and my back was killing me. I went into work and managed to earn the nickname "Robocop" because of the way I was walking.

Anyway, I woke up on Thursday and although my back was better (70% of the previous pain) there was no way I could run. Walking was still a bit tricky. I flew back to London that day and woke up this morning again with pain (about 40%). So no running again. Maybe tomorrow but I am thinking of writing off this week to let my back completely recover and then start from scratch on Monday. Not the best start to a marathon training schedule but better that than to run and make things worse. I seem to be saying that a lot these days!!

Let's see how it goes. Hopefully by the next time I write I've started marathon training.

Whether the weather be hot

The BUPA 10k is this Sunday. My training is going well and my ankle is holding up well. The only unknown is the weather.

It has become noticeably warmer in the last week. The five day forecast says that it will be 21C on Sunday. If it is then I can probably kiss goodbye to a sub-45 minute finish and I will reset my expectations to sub-50 minutes instead. That's no bad thing as I may not be ready to run at pace for 45 minutes yet and doing so could agitate my ankle. Better to run and enjoy the race than push myself too hard and kill any chance of running a marathon this year.

Once the 10k is done I will have one week until my 18 week marathon training schedule begins. Fingers crossed I get through Sunday unscathed.

10k Here we come!

I only managed to get one run in when I went to Chester for the Easter weekend. But while I was there I was offered a place in the BUPA London 10k at the end of May.

My wife's cousins are coming to London to run the 10k and they had a spare place. I figured a 10k would be perfect to see how my fitness is coming along. It would give me three weeks after the end of my recovery training to tune up. And then I'll be a week or two off starting marathon training.

Several of the "team" haven't run a 10k before so it should be a fun event. And I haven't run an official 10k race since Gunnersbury Park 10k in August 2012. I'll have three goals: a) under 45 minutes, b) under 50 minutes and c) under an hour. c) would pretty much be a disaster and an indication that something terrible has gone wrong. a) would be brilliant but is a tough ask. I ran 20 minutes at a sub-45 minute 10k pace last week and it felt very hard going but with the adrenaline of the occasion and a bit of friendly competition I may just be able to pull it off.

The three week 10k training started this week and involves a lot of threshold and interval running. I think the longest run is about 70 minutes so nothing too taxing hopefully. I'll update hopefully next week with more of how the training is going.

Easing back into things

It's been a while since my last post. What has happened?

Well, I took a week off running after my ankle flare up last month and then decided to follow a recovery schedule to get back up to full strength. I'm currently in week 3 of a four week schedule and so far so good.

If I want to run the Chester marathon this year in October I need to start training in early June. That gives me about a month after finishing the recovery schedule to get my ankle up to strength such that it can cope with runs of more than an hour at least. It may mean that I won't be able to run as fast as I would like but I'd rather that than run too fast and hurt my ankle again.

It's been about 4 months since my ankle started hurting and it's incredibly frustrating. Everything else is fine. Maybe my age is telling me to slow down. Perhaps I should start listening!

I'm going to a wedding in Chester this weekend so I hope to go out for a couple of decent runs (4 or 5 miles) along the canals and country lanes around there. It always makes for a nice change of scenery.

The weather has been kind so far this year, I've been wearing my running vests since the start of April. Normally they don't come out of the drawer until May. Hopefully this is the sign of a good summer to come!

Not much more to catch up on. With luck by the next time I post I'll be almost back to fighting fitness.

Ankles, shmankles!

At the end of my last post I mentioned that I needed to keep an eye on my right ankle as it tends to start hurting at the end of a long run. Well, I managed a 12 mile run on Sunday going along the canal that runs around the Ealing area. It was a great run and one I look forward to. I try not to repeat the route too often for fear that it will become boring. Once per training schedule seems to be the right amount as I get to see the canal with new eyes each time. This time I noticed the smell of a wood burning stove coming from one of the canal boats. An evocative smell that reminds me of barbecues and summer. Also, there were plenty of birds around; coots, moorhens, geese, ducks and swans (no herons though unfortunately). Plenty to distract from the running.

Anyway, the last couple of miles are on the pavement back to my house and my ankle started to hurt again. Ok, I thought, lets just finish this run off and then rest for the day.

The next morning was a 5 mile recovery run. About half way through the ankle started aching again! I finished the run and decided to take action. I have not run this morning. I was due to do some interval training and as much as I hate missing training runs I thought discretion is the better part of valour and all that! I'm going to go for a four mile easy run tomorrow to see how it holds up and if it's ok then I'll carry on with the schedule.

What this means is that my chances of running the Chester half are becoming remote. If my ankle doesn't get stronger then my chances of training for the Chester full marathon in October will be in jeopardy. Treatment for the problem (which is known as post tibial tendonitis) vary from getting orthotics inserted to complete rest. I have some orthotics that I can use so we'll see how it responds to that. I would much rather do that than to have to stop running altogether.

Wait, what about weight

Just after Xmas my weight had ballooned up to 86kgs. This was due to two reasons, the usual festive overindulgence and the fact that I was recovering from injury so could not run as much as I wanted to.

Anyway, now I've been running longer distances and putting in more miles per week for the last two months my weight is now down to just under 83kgs. I'm hoping that by the end of the training schedule I will be down to 80kgs or preferably less. This will put me in a great position for marathon training, which should start at the beginning of June.

At the moment I'm in two minds whether to actually enter a half-marathon at the end of this training schedule. I had timed it so I could run in the Chester half-marathon but now I'm not so sure. It's a long way to go just to run a race. My wife owns a house in Chester but this is now being rented out so we would have to arrange to stay with one of her family. I'm still going to follow the schedule but may look for another race closer to home. Otherwise I will treat this as pre-marathon training. To be honest I always prefer the training to the racing. I'm a killer for a training plan!

My running is going well at the moment. The interval and tempo runs are difficult but feeling more manageable as my fitness gets better and better. My right ankle grumbles now and then but it's not constant and only occurs at the end of a long run. Still, it's worth keeping an eye on it.

Need for speed

My training schedule was written by pace rather than heart rate. For a 1:35 finish time this meant that all the runs were a little bit faster than I am comfortable with (what with coming back from a slight injury and all).

I decided to change this to heart rate. This should allow me to improve both my fitness and speed without straining my body too much. Getting injured again is definitely not on my priority list, whereas avoiding injury is! I've still kept pace in the plan for intervals of 1.25km and less as it is hard to train by heart rate for those distances.

So far it's going well. It's quite hard to keep my heart rate below 134bpm for long runs but as long as I keep on flattish roads then it's achievable and I can still keep a decent speed.

This morning I ran the 600m interval session again. Again it was hard going but I was faster than last week although I was exhausted by the end. To think that in 10 weeks' time I need to run 13.1 miles at not much slower than the interval speed from this morning is almost unthinkable. Hopefully my fitness will improve in time. If not then I will readjust my targets.

A step up in pace

Half marathon training started this week. It's certainly a step up in pace and distance for me compared to the past couple of months. You'd think that with all the marathon training last year it would be pretty easy. This is not the case. I've lost a lot of fitness over the last few months. Hopefully I can get it back by the time of the race in May.

What I've realised is that I do not like running to time. I think it's because I cannot alter the time but when I run against distance my fate is my own. So with this in mind I've altered the training plan from time based to distance based. Much better.

I've had no recurrence of my ankle injury. It was certainly not due to my running shoes. I'll just have to keep my eye on it.

This morning I ran a set of six intervals of 600m each. It was tough but I got through it. The pace I had to run was actually slower than my best 10km pace although it felt a lot tougher. Such is the loss of my fitness at the moment. Next week I will be running the same session so it will give me something to compare against.

A rest day tomorrow and then a 4 mile tempo run on Thursday, which will be another tough test. Looking forward to it though.

*sniff* *cough* *sneeze*

It's been two weeks since my last post. This is because I was off sick for three days and missed a couple of runs. A slight chest infection and a touch of the man-flu laid me up. I trusted in the adage that if the cold is below the neck then it's best not to run.

I'm now in my final week of recovery runs. Yesterday I ran for thirty minutes and at the end my ankle started complaining! Disaster I thought. Will I never by rid of this turbulent tendon? This morning I decided to risk my scheduled forty minute run that included six 100m sprints. I came through with flying colours. What's the next step? Well tomorrow is a rest day then I have a thirty five minute run on Thursday, twenty of which is at a tempo pace. I will be wearing the same running shoes that I wore yesterday and if I start feeling pain again then it may well be that it's the running shoes to blame. It's a scientific process of elimination, so we'll see what happens.

My half marathon training is due to start on Monday so I will bring forward my Sunday run (fifty five minutes) to the Saturday so I get a rest day before the schedule starts. Providing my ankle doesn't explode.

Stay on target

Three weeks until I start half marathon training.

My run this morning was 35 minutes. Pretty much 4 miles. It's the longest distance I've run for about two months and it felt like it.

Still no issues with my calf and ankle so all is well at the moment. So much so that I've chosen my training plan for the Chester half. I'm going to use the Lucozade running plan for sub 1:35. It will be a stretch since I am not up to full fitness and 1:35 would be a new pb for me so it may be a case of changing plans if I find it too tough to start with. Until then I'm sticking with it. This weekend I'll be up to 40 minutes, then it's 45 minutes the weekend after and 55 minutes the weekend after that.

Say one thing, do another

My plan was to not accelerate the schedule. That was the plan I had agreed with myself.

I should never listen to myself. I'm such a liar!

I accelerated the schedule so that I'm now running 5 days a week instead of 3. So far everything is going well. This morning I ran 25 minutes non-stop. My heart rate went quite high but I suppose that's to be expected since I haven't run for any length of time for a couple of months. My main concern is my calf and ankle and both of those came through with flying colours. For the next week I'm running 25 minutes and 30 minutes alternatively. After that it's a bit of interval training and strides. That will be the real test.

Feeling fine

I've been following the return to running schedule and so far no problems. This morning the intervals rose to 2 minutes walking 10 minutes running repeated 2 more times. My tendon and my calf are holding up well, no sign of any pain or even aching. The temptation would be to accelerate the schedule but at the moment I am happy to keep with the plan. Maybe once I'm running without intervals and there's still no pain then I'll judge if it's safe to increase the frequency of runs but that's a week or two away yet.

I'm wearing long socks that help the circulation around the calf area. I was also wearing a tubular calf grip but have now dispensed this. It can be too easy to fall back on something like that as a psychological crutch.

It's four weeks until training starts for the Chester half marathon and it can't come soon enough; a) because I love a training plan and b) because if I am able to start training it means that my injury is no more. Double reason to celebrate.

By this time next week I will have run my last run/walk interval session. Let's hope that for this year at least it really will be my last.

On the road again

I went for a four mile run on Sunday to test out my calf. My right leg started to ache a little after a mile. By the end of four miles it still ached but not to the point that I had to or wanted to stop.

Post run it carried on aching so maybe four miles was too ambitious at the moment.

Searching on the internet I found a seven week programme for returning to running after injury. It involves a lot of walk breaks which might dent the ego a bit but if it means I get back up to training speed by the end of the programme then I can live with that.

On Wednesday I went for my first recovery run. 10 minutes walking, 5 running, 5 walking and another 5 running. It's remarkable how tiring even a 5 minute run can feel at the moment. Tomorrow I have to walk 5 and run 5 three times. It's a far cry from an 11 mile midweek run. Those seem like a lifetime away. But at least it's getting outside and not being sat indoors feeling sorry for myself.

If all goes well I hope to be able to start the half marathon training in 6 weeks' time. I know the schedule is for 7 weeks but the first week of half marathon training is pretty much the same as the last week of the recovery schedule so they tie in quite nicely.

Pain, no gain

It's been a month since the last posting. So what's happened? Well, I tried changing my running style to no success. The midfoot running shoes still caused problems with my ankle as the distances went up. I got up to 5 miles before it hurt but any further and I was risking more damage.

So, I stopped right? Wrong!! I decided to change my style again and went back to my Vibram Five Fingers with the promise of efficient forefoot running. You know, the ones that have twice busted my calf. Surely if I took it easy I'd finally manage to lick this forefoot running thing.

Well I started at 20 minutes, increased by 5 minutes each week and finally got all the way to 35 minutes before my calf decided enough was enough. A tiny but intense pain in the calf at the end of a 35 minute run meant I had to give up the experiment.

No new running style. No Manchester marathon. I need to rest my leg to help it recover from the post tibial tendon and to make sure my calf doesn't explode. I never learn. I always think that I can find an alternative to beat the injury but in the end I just have to rest it out. I'll go out on Sunday for a trial and see how it goes.

If all is well I'm going to enter the Chester half marathon in mid May. The training schedule starts on the last week of February which gives me just over six weeks to heal and get up to some decent level of fitness.

I will update next week with hopefully good news.