Deer oh deer!

I'm constantly surprised by how green London is. I shouldn't be considering I've lived here for 17 years but it still amazes me that I can be running past a housing estate one minute and be surrounded by the most delightful flora and fauna the next.

On Sunday I had a 15 mile run ahead of me. A good distance. Long enough to give a work out but not too long to exhaust me.

I planned a route to take me down to Richmond and through the park and back along the Thames to home. The weather was perfect. Overcast, not much wind and not too hot. I suppose at 6am it's never too hot but it stayed cool for the next couple of hours and I just avoided a downpour of rain that has hit London for the last week or so.

I also remembered to take my iPhone with me so stopped and took some snaps.

View from Richmond Bridge

After crossing the bridge at Richmond I ran up the hill and into Richmond Park. I love Richmond Park, it's beautiful and has trails and paths that criss cross the entire park but it isn't flat and that's what's so great about it. Variety.

Miles of greenery in Richmond Park. The Shard is visible just in the distance

Sitting in the long grass next to the path were some deer. They blend in so well I almost missed them. Almost. The stags have magnificent antlers at this time of year although I don't think rutting season is on us at the moment.

A stag in the grass

Herd of deer? Of course I have!

One thing you can't avoid in Richmond Park are the MAMILs. Cycling around and around in all the latest gear and high spec bicycles. Even though I cycle to work every day and have cycled solo from Land's End to John O'Groats (see my other blog from 2012: http://mikelejog2012.blogspot.co.uk/) I have no interest in cycling for fun or fitness. Don't get me wrong, I love cycling to work and doing LEJOG (as it is known) was one of the most pleasurable and proud things I've ever done but I don't see the appeal of cycling as a fitness pastime. Running always wins for me.

Came out of Richmond Park and then ran back along the Thames to home. Just as the rain started to empty out of the skies. Pretty good timing.

View of the Thames from south end of Chiswick Bridge

Here's the run in total, if you look at the pace charts then you can see how often and where I stopped to take photos:

My mid week running has been going well. I'm hitting the paces and finishing strong. Hopefully this is a good sign for the next ten weeks.

Next Sunday I'm running 16 miles. I think I'll head into London and through Hyde Park down towards the museum area. I ran the same route back in March and really enjoyed it. And that is the key word. Enjoy. If you can do that then you can run forever.

Here I go again!

So, Chester marathon is on the 4th October. That's just under 11 weeks away from now. Luckily I started my 12 week Pfitzinger and Douglas plan last week.

Since the plan is only 12 weeks they don't mess around too much with warming you up into the distances. The first long run was 13 miles and they only get bigger. They do however only have me running four days a week for the first two weeks before moving up to five days for most of the rest of the plan. Compared with the six days a week regime I was used to doing with the Hanson method for 18 weeks this seems almost like a holiday!

I'm still training at a pace that would get me under 3:30 for the marathon although due to summertime interruptions such as holidays and the fact that the schedule is a third shorter than usual I am not expecting to run the marathon at that pace. If I can get round in under 4 hours I'll be pleased. It's more of a "bonus pleasure marathon" (if there's such a thing) than going for a target.

I have however decided to ease up on alcohol once again. It may be a bit trickier to go the entire 12 weeks without drinking since we're hoping to go on holiday at some time, my birthday also occurs during the schedule as does the Great British Beer Festival (to go there and not drink would probably be the ultimate challenge!). But, generally I won't be drinking.

After the Shakespeare marathon in April I put on about 3 kgs (half a stone in old money), and went from 77kg to 80kg over three months. Which to be honest I was happily surprised at. I thought I'd pull the ripcord and balloon up to the mid 80s but I suppose the general running I was doing helped keep it down.

After 1 week of proper training with no alcohol I've gone back down to 79kg.

Next week I'll try to remember to take my camera with me. I have a 15 mile run on the Sunday and the weather is beautiful at the moment. Perfect for a few snaps.

Swansea Half

Finally writing up my Swansea half marathon review.

The day was perfect for running. Not too hot (to start with!), no rain and a slight breeze. I had stayed at my parents' house so they drove me near to the start line and I gathered in the runners' village. Lots of people milling around waiting for the off. The village was well organised and I saw that a nearby Sports Direct had opened up early, a bit of opportunistic trading never hurt anyone!

Runners' village

With about 10 minutes to go I headed to the start line and found my pen (1:45). I visit Swansea once or twice a year to see my parents but don't often go into town. I was surprised and slightly depressed by the decline in the town centre. Too many boarded up shops and a general run down feeling pervades everywhere. I guess the recession from a few years ago bit hard. Hopefully it will turn around. I guess locals go to Cardiff to shop and visitors bypass the centre and head straight for Mumbles or the Gower.

Waiting for the start

The gun went off on time and I ran over the start line. My ideal pace was going to be around 5 minutes per kilometre but my optimism took over and I thought I could go faster. About 15 seconds per kilometre faster but enough to hurt me later on. Also, the clouds broke and the sun came out. It got quite warm quite quickly. Nevertheless I continued to pound away at my optimistic pace and headed onto the Oystermouth road for the next five miles towards the halfway turnaround point in Mumbles.

Support was good, the weather had brought the crowds out. I even managed to see a friend of mine who I hadn't actually seen for about 15 years!

Finally we hit the halfway point and headed back towards Swansea along the cycle path that skirts the seafront. By now the sun was definitely out, I felt hot and my pace was hurting. I had to slow down a bit. Still managed to keep my average under the 5 minute per km that I was aiming for but my thoughts of this being a nice easy fun run disappeared. I had to start digging deep.

I focussed on a fellow runner about 10 metres ahead of me running at my pace and decided that I was going to beat him. With about 11 miles we turned into the marina before heading back to the finish line (same as the start line). 12 miles went by and I ran up Wind Street, the new centre of drinking and eating. Quite nice as long as you avoid Friday and Saturday nights!

My "rival" was still 10 metres ahead so I upped the pace and started closing him down. With 400 metres left I drew level. Maybe if he knew I was racing him he'd have given a better fight but as it was I eased past and started sprinting towards the finish.

I ran across the line in 1:43:46. Well under my goal but it hurt a lot more than I had planned!


Would I recommend this race? Yes. It's well organised, well supported and flat as a pancake so perfect for a PB. If I wasn't still shattered from my marathon effort maybe I would have broken mine.

Since the race I've been ticking over until marathon training starts again in mid July. It's a lot warmer in the mornings at the moment but I suppose that's better than running in the cold! Lighter mornings also mean that parks and canals come into play.

I've planned a few pre marathon races, a couple of 10k races and the Ealing half marathon. I definitely will not be racing the half marathon for a PB since it is a week before Chester so I'll use it as a training session, it's a good marathon well liked by the running community. It always does well in the running surveys and awards. I'm looking forward to it.

Springwatch along the canal

Canals are great for running. Flat, aesthetically pleasing and you get to see all sorts of birds. Even sometimes a rabbit or two!

Sunday morning was a beautiful, bright day. It wasn't too hot and the wind was cooling. I hadn't a plan of where to go so I let my legs decide. They took me to the canal. Four miles down the Grand Union from Hanwell to Brentford. There's not many better runs than those where you have no idea where you want to go and let the wanderlust take over.

Lock-keeper's cottage on the Grand Union

Down the canal I stopped to take a photo of a family of coots. They were taking a breather on a log.

Coots

As the canal path ended at Brentford I ran the remaining three miles back home along the roads. The rest of this week is a small taper until the half marathon on Sunday. Tomorrow I'll run an interval session just to get some speed through the legs. I'm still determined to run it for fun rather than time. I might even take my iPhone to get some snaps as I go around.

My middle name

Hubris. That's my middle name. If I've learnt one thing recently, it's that I should not expect to be able to race a 10k four weeks after a marathon and get a PB.

To be honest the number of runners didn't help either. The BUPA London 10k is very popular and thousands of runners turned up. I was in one of the first few waves released but that didn't give me any advantage. Nor did the fact that the course had been rerouted due to roadworks on the Embankment where the course normally runs. This meant that the course went up the Strand which is a lot narrower than the Embankment and I found myself zig-zagging for the first two or three kilometres. But my legs weren't ready for the race either. By the end of the race they felt very heavy.

The weather conditions were perfect and the organisation was excellent as you can see below.

A lovely day in London, perfect for running

Lots and lots of runners getting ready

The streets were crowded with loud supporters and the odd band or two. I do recommend it for anyone wanting a great day out with a race included. Just don't expect to post a brilliant time.

In the end I managed to run 45:16 which was just over two minutes short of my PB and my hopes of getting under 43 minutes were pretty much dashed from the get go due to the amount of runners, heavy legs etc. etc. (see above!).

I was hanging on at the end and as I passed the 100m to go sign I checked my watch and saw that I needed to run it in less than 10 seconds to get under 45 minutes. I'm certainly no Usain Bolt and I think even he would have struggled with that after running 10km. To be fair my watch said that I actually ran 10.25km in total so morally I got under the 45 minutes for the 10k but my race result is what matters.

I've been away in Madrid on business for the last week and wasn't able to fit my running kit into my carry-on luggage so haven't run for six days. I went out for a 7 miler this morning to blow the cobwebs away and felt fine. With the Swansea half marathon next weekend I'll have to add a few more sessions before then including a tempo and interval session. But as I have learnt I am not now expecting to beat my PB and will run it for fun. I'm hoping to get in under 1:45 which is basically my marathon pace so am hoping that won't be too taxing. Anything better than that will be a bonus and it will be nice to run in Swansea. The last time I did was four years ago when I got my 10k PB. It's a very flat course along the seafront and if the weather is good then it will be an absolute joy.

Here I go, ready or not

The London 10k is this Monday. I've been adding more miles to my training this week to make sure my legs are back up to a decent challenge.

Last week I ran to time rather than distance which I don't enjoy as much. I'm not sure if it's psychological but I just prefer to set a distance for the day and run it. So this week I've been doing just that.

On Monday I had a rest day so my week started with a 7 mile run on Tuesday morning. I ran a little bit of different routes that I normally run to make a whole new route. It's got to a point where I've run the roads around here so much I can make up a route for any distance on the fly.

Wednesday morning I remembered to take out my iPhone as I intended to run through some of the green areas of Ealing. I ran over to Ealing Common where there is usually something going on such as a circus or funfair, but not this day. Still, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day.

Ealing Common

I then wound my way down to Lammas Park where the Ealing Half Marathon starts and ends. It's a lovely, thin park with a very convenient one mile circumference around it's outer edge.



Lammas Park

This morning I ran 8 miles with 8 x 100m strides in the middle. It was nice to finally get some speed going through my legs. I want to get under 45 minutes for the 10k and if possible under 43 minutes for a new PB so it was important to make sure I still had some speed in the locker.

I'm confident I can at least give it a go. It just depends if the weather plays ball. The forecast seems to indicate it will but it's probably too soon to say.

I'll have another rest day tomorrow, then a big 10 mile on Saturday, 4 mile on Sunday and the 10k on bank holiday Monday. I'll write up a race report next week. If I can get a PB then that will be two in two months and I can't ask for more than that can I?

On The Road Again!

Well that was a long two weeks. Not running when not injured is something akin to torture, but the plan said it so I did it. I was just following orders!

Anyway, I've now put in two thirty minute easy runs to get myself back into the swing of things. My first run was tougher than I thought. I haven't lost much fitness, I don't suppose you can in two weeks, but my muscles were still slightly sore even after 14 days of rest.

Today's run was better. My legs swung back into action and I didn't feel in any pain. The most fun part is finding routes short enough for a 30 minute run. That's a touch over 3 miles at my easy pace.

Tomorrow is a rest day (ha!). Then it's 40 minutes, 50 minutes, 50 minutes and a 60 minute run on Sunday. Next week will be 6 runs of varying length between 45 minutes and 60 minutes each. On the Monday (25th May) I will running in the BUPA London 10k so I'm hoping that I'll be back up to a decent speed to go sub 45 minutes, but that all depends on how he next 10 days or so feel.

A short update then. I'll write up more next week as my recovery continues and I look forward to the 10k and following that a half marathon in June. I'll put up some photos as well if I can remember to take my iPhone with me. The weather is really turning nice now so I may take a few excursions down the canal. See if I can catch a photo of a heron or two!