The fun part of marathon training

So now for the fun part! The early morning training is done, the grueling long runs are finished the aching limbs from high mileage weeks are over now its just time to take it easy and make sure I am ready for the marathon. And of course the fun part every runner enjoys race week carb loading! 

This week my focus has been on:

• Looking after my legs to make sure they are fresh for Sunday so not too much running plenty of walking and some stretching and ice baths.

• Staying hydrated in the build up right the week through by drinking plenty of water mixed in with some green teas and fruit juices.

• Plenty of rest by aiming to get to bed by 10pm every night and not being busy in the evenings.

• Carb loading, making sure I have been eating a good quantity and good variety of good carbohydrates.

A great article I found with some great advice on pre marathon preparation is here its an article written by Olympic Marathon runner Scott Overall so its definitely from a source you can trust! His blog on realbuzz is definitely worth checking out as it has some great advice on all things running related.  

I have increased my carbohydrate consumption a little through the week but now its Thursday I am really upping my game.

I have been sneaking extra carbs into my diet by eating plenty of potato and by adding a tortilla wrap to a meal or having a wrap with peanut butter as a snack.

My eating plan for today is shaping up like this:

Eggs on toast for breakfast, plenty of fruit, brown rice for lunch, flapjack for an afternoon snack, more fruit and steak and mashed potato for dinner. 

I try and minimize my wheat intake as I don't like being bloated so cut down on bread and pasta options.

Brown rice always plays a part in my pre race diet both in terms of a good low fat clean eating lunch option and a good carb loading source in the build up to a run.

Flapjacks are also a key ingredient of my pre race diet as a good carb heavy snack and as my pre race meal. They weigh in at over 400 calories and around 60g of carbohydrate so they are not a light option but will provide me with the fuel I need to complete the marathon ahead.

Thanks for reading, what are your carb loading secrets and tips? Any advice on marathon build up and what to do/what not to do in the week before a marathon? 

Marathon countdown

Now into the final week before the Vanguard Way Marathon on Sunday 3rd August. The marathon on Sunday will be my third marathon but more importantly the first of three marathons I will be running in three months.

Sunday was my last longish run, I set out with an aim of maybe around 15K but with the main aim being to run well and feel confident with a good run under my belt.

It has been pretty hot and humid the last few days with temperatures pushing 30degrees and this morning despite heading out soon after 8am it was still humid and reasonably hot.

I think the heat and humdity has taken its toll on me as I felt pretty jaded. My legs felt quite leaden and heavy I think as a result of not recovering that well from my two longer runs in the week. 

So all in all I struggled from the start to feel comfortable and run at a decent pace so I decided to scale things down a bit and aim for just over 12K. I thought it better to successfully complete a shorter distance than to struggle with a longer distance.

So now into the final few days countdown, my priorities are eating well, staying very hydrated, looking after my legs, getting good quantities of protein in the early part of the week and plenty of carbs in the 3-4 days before the run.

It is lookong like a busy week at work so I need to make sure I focus on looking after myself, staying relaxed and doing the little bits of training I want to do this week.

All in all I am looking forward to it, the course looks both challenging and scenic and I am well up for pushing myself to achieve the challenge in front of me.

I have scaled down my original hopeful aims of a sub 4 time to a more realistic 4.15 target. I am not lowering my ambition but being realistic as the course will be mostly offroad and undulating and steep in places plus I feel slightly under cooked having missed two long training runs due to illness and injury.

Thanks for reading and look out for more updates later in the week as well as a race report about the marathon on Sunday. I am always all ears when it comea to marathon advice and tips so if you have anything to offer please let me know! 

 

Early morning sub 50 10K along the Thames

With just 9 days to go to my first of three marathons in three months I am caught between trying to train hard to make up for loss of due to illness and injury while at the same time trying to to take it easy as I come towards the marathon.

This morning after a pretty decent weeks of training which consisted of 29.3K on Sunday, gym & treadmill intervals on Tuesday, 11.9K run home on Wednesday and some circuit training on Thursday I was planning a nice early morning 10K along the scenic paths of the Thames in central London.

Feeling so good with my training and feeling particularly sharp this morning I decided to push for a sub 50 time which I managed comfortably.

For no reason in particular I opted to take a clockwise take on my usual Thames loop. 

From temple station I headed left along the river past Blackfriars and St Paul's, under the millennium bridge and down to The Tower of London. Then over Tower bridge and onto the South Bank, past the mayors offices all the way down to The London Eye. Up and over Westminster Bridge past Big Ben and back to my starting point.

London was looking especially good this morning in the early morning haze as the summer sun fought to break through.

I clocked my run at just under 47 minutes and from running the same route many times before I know it to be pretty spot on 10K. Take into consideration stopping to cross the road, slowing down through narrow path sections and stopping, weaving and sometimes tripping your way through London's mix of bemused pedestrians and tourists and that's a pretty nifty time.

I did feel anxious not having my mapmyrun on though to accurately record most importantly my distance but also my time and splits. Not having technology to track my distance makes me uneasy and doubtful of the time I have achieved as I feel I will have ran significantly less than the distance I was aiming for.

My last picture below is one of my favorite monuments in London. The picture is of one of the sphinx that flank either side of the Egyptian obelisk that is commonly referred to as Cleopatra's needle.

I like this monument for several reasons, firstly I like the fact there are near identical statues in New York and Paris as well as London and I have visited them all. I also like the mysticism associated with the obelisk, their Egyptian connections and the fact they date back to 1450BC. 

My real reason for it being one of my favorite sights in London is that the two Sphinx statues were installed incorrectly! The correct statue formation is meant to see the Sphinx pointing outwardly from the obelisk as they are positioned to guard the statue therefore they need to look away from it to be able to see any danger approaching. However English workmen in the 1800s thought differently (or just got it completely wrong!) and stationed them facing the statue rendering the whole obelisk incorrect and pointless! I don't know why but that fact interests and tickles me and I cant help but think of it every time I pass the monument.

On a more somber note I also like the fact that the plinths the Sphinx sit on were damaged by shrapnel in the second World War and that this damage has never been repaired as a lasting reminder of the damage inflicted upon the City during the terrible conflict. 

Thanks for reading, wherever you are running this week I hope your running is going well and you have somewhere interesting to run and some fun places to run by or some cool things to look at as you go by.

Finally getting out for a proper long run

On Sunday despite my niggling big toe injury I headed out for a long run and managed to complete 29.3Km!

I was so relieved to be able to get a good distanced long run in before my fast approaching marathon in two weeks on 3rd August. I was also thankful my toe allowed me to complete the distance and has showed no signs of worsening since the run.

My aim was to try and cover 20K and then if my toe held up to try and push into the higher 20s towards 30.

My long distance stamina isn’t where it should be as it has been two weeks since I complete 20K and three plus weeks since I completed anything longer.

I did find it a struggle and my legs started to wain a little around the 14K mark but I dug in and completed a distance I was really pleased with.

I was also able to successful practice my race preparation and race strategy. My pre-race schedule looked something like this on Sunday morning:

My carb loading strategy worked well and I felt well fuelled throughout the run, I was also able to get some much needed experience of using my new hydration pack on a long run.

I also took along a fee energy gels and took four during my run which helped maintain my energy levels. I was happy with how they helped my performance and was satisfied I was able to digest them with no stomach issues.

The run has to go down as one of the most enjoyable runs I can remember. Firstly the relief at being able to run after injury, secondly with not being sure how far I would be able to run being able to run such a good distance felt great!

It was also such a great summer’s morning, warm and bright even though the sun hadn’t quite pierced through the clouds fully at 8.30am when I started out.

It was the kind of day where summer felt in full peak after a few days of really hot and humid weather, the grass was all sunburnt and straw like and the ground mostly dry and crisp despite some heavy downpours a few days previously.

Running through fields in the country park I was often running through a vibrant cacophony provided by what seemed like a million grasshoppers/cricket providing at times an ear piercing backing track to a lovely summer morning. At times it was a relief to leave a fielded area to get reacclimatised with the silence and you then realise how loud the cricket orchestra had been.

Post run I feel great although I have painful blister on my right heel and sore, damaged nipples which will take a few days to heal over. The run has reconnected me with why I love to run, the feeling of pushing yourself towards your limit and the physical and mental excellence you are rewarded with as a result.

I can’t wait to get out and run the marathon on 3rd of August and am looking forward to many more long runs as I train towards the following two marathons after that.

Thanks for reading, I hope you are enjoying your running and your training is progressing well.

Saturday night fajita fun

What a great way to combine having some fun on a Saturday night with a tasty  meal to fuel my long run tomorrow than making fajitas?! 

I fancied something different to eat and they are always good fun to make and eat, they make for some colourful photos too.

I really should try making fajitas using my own technique and recipe but I always opt for the dinner kits where they supply you with the seasoning and you just add the fresh ingredients.

Take some chicken:

Prepare some veg, peppers and mushrooms are two of the best for fajitas, I kept it simple on this occasion and neglected adding red onion or tomato.

I also prepared some rice as an accompaniment and for good carb dose for me ahead of running tomorrow.

I have been doing a mixture of brown and basmati rice which works quite nicely giving good taste and texture which is a bit better than just brown rice on its own which can be hard to eat. 

Next fry up the chicken with a little oil, when its started to cook up add in the veg and the fajita spice seasoning.

When the chickens nicely browned its ready to serve up!

Now for the fun part of trying to build your fajita, its so easy to overfill!

I layered the chicken and veg with the rice then added the salsa and sour cream to the top, when it all combines together its a pretty amazing taste sensation!

This time we had used the medium spice option which was perhaps a little hot for our tastes  so thankfully we had the sour cream to cool as down!

I hope you enjoyed my photos as I certainly enjoyed eating the fajitas! 

Thanks for reading if you enjoyed this foodporn article you might enjoy my burrito reviews, heres one of my best from Daddy Donkey Burrito.

Big toe injury update

A nightmare I am sure most of you have experienced at some point, an injury in a build up to a big event. It’s a pretty dismal time especially when there is uncertainty of the severity of the injury and what affect it us going to have on your running from one day to the next.

On Sunday I was due to run around 30K as one of the three big long runs I had scheduled into my training plan. I was really geared up for it and eager to see how I coped with the increased distance as my previous long runs have been between 22-25K. The run was also pretty imperative as I had missed my previously scheduled longer run due to illness. I was also planning to practice my race strategy, my pre-race preparation as well as trying out my new hydration pack for the first time.

Disappointingly I only managed 3.5K (run report here) as pain struck in my big right toe.

I instead took my bike out for a spin and covered a similar 30K distance on my wheels instead. 

Sunday was spent trying to RICE as much as possible and I am hopeful this will have a positive affect.

Monday and Tuesday I then decided would have to be non-running days, two days is usually long enough to assess your injury and rest a minor ailment and I could then figure out how the injury would affect my training plan so I could adapt accordingly. 

So Monday and Tuesday I hit the gym for cardio and circuits in the mornings as well as going out on my bike again in the evening. 

I also continued to ice my foot and created myself a little ice bath.

I tried researching my injury and came up with the liklihoods of it being sesanoiditis or possibly a small fracture to a metatarsal or even a tendon strain. (If anyone has experienced any of these injuries or has any advice on my injury I would be grateful to hear your experiences.)

Wednesday it felt somewhat better and I also decided to take some ibuprofen to help with the pain and hopefully help heal the injury. I was reluctant to take any painkiller as I hadn't taken any for a running related ailment in a long time following a realisation I had become a little bit too dependent on painkillers (you can read the article here). 

Anyway Wednesday I felt alot better and managed to complete a breezy 10K in 50 minutes with no pain. 

Thursday though the pain returned and my strategy now turned to resting the injury as much as possible in the hope of still being able to make a long run on Sunday. 

Not running in Thursday evening proved benefical as I was able to do some much needed maintenance on my bike and was able to successfully adjust my rear derailleur to give me a full range of gears again, I was pretty pleased with myself on this achievement! 

Not running on Thursday, Friday or Saturday is not going to limit my marathon run too much but missing my third scheduled long definitely will.

So fingers crossed I can complete a good long run on Sunday and coupled with some gym and circuit work on Friday and Saturday I will still have kept in good shape.

Beach Head Marathon revisited

With the first marathon of my three marathons in three months just about two weeks away I thought I would have a cathartic look back at my last marathon. It was not the greatest experience for me so I thought it would be a good idea to think back to see what I could learn from the experience looking forward to my upcoming events.

My last, and only my second marathon was the Beachy Head Marathon In Eastbourne in October 2013. The course is notoriously hilly with the last few miles taking runners over the seven sisters hills.

The elevation of the course looks something like the graph above and has a total elevation climb for the course is somewhere over 4000ft! As well as the seven climbs of the seven sisters in the final few miles there are several other climbs on uneven terrain and a couple of step sections which are a real killer. It’s not just the uphills to look out for though as the downhills become just as tough when your legs start aching and the footing is treacherous.

The general recommendation from experienced runners who have ran the course before and have compared it with other 'normal' marathons is that the course will easily add 45 minutes to an hour onto your marathon PB.

So that gives you some idea of how gruelling a run it is.

In my training over the last few months I have already been trying to correct the mistakes I made in training for Beachy Head and have been conscious to try and improve my training to try and subsequently improve my performance.

So what have I learnt from the experience:

Negatives

Running too fast in training - I know I spent too many training runs focusing on trying to run faster times. Running against the clock trying to beat my previous PB over a certain route or trying to run a specific pace and I also dedicated a fair amount of time on trying to run further than 13Km in an hour.

While all this was good training to an extent and while speed work and threshold training is important in any training plan I think I forgot the basics of any marathon training plan, the slow long run.

Not enough slow long runs - so with the above in mind I had therefore not completed enough slow long runs. I felt that this meant I wasn’t as used to just running, my training was all about trying to run fast and trying to run at a certain speed so when it came to the later stages of the marathon where I just needed to keep plodding along at a slow and steady pace I wasn’t used to it and didn’t have the aerobic capacity to maintain it.

Underestimating the hills and terrain - I knew there would be hills, I knew they would be steep, I knew they would be hard and I knew they would make me suffer. I definitely misjudged how hard the course was going to be and no amount of running up and down the hills around where I live would have prepared me for what lay in store.

not enough training at high intensity - although I trained a lot at pace as describe above as per usual for me I failed to do enough proper sprint training, the proper lung busting, heart stopping interval type training where you push to the max. I always aim to include more of this kind of training into my routine but somehow I always look back and know I haven’t included enough. 

Positives

Despite the negatives and the overall negative affect from the race I still take some positives from it:

Good carb loading - In the weeks building up to the marathon I worked on a good pre-race carb loading routine. My pre-race routine was of getting up early at around 5.00am to eat cereal, a banana and a flapjack with fruit juice then to get back to sleep for around 1.5 hours to then get up and have a pre-race breakfast 1.5 hours before the start of the race. Then taking on an extra banana and energy drinks in the 30 minute build up to the start.

I felt my carb loading strategy worked well on both the marathon and the training runs building up to it. Any problems I encountered during the marathon were not due to 'hitting the wall' or being inadequately fuelled so I am pleased I know how to fuel myself adequately for future events.

Effective training - Although I have highlighted some areas to improve I know I did a lot right in training. My recovery time after my longer runs and the marathon its self was very short so I am confident I put enough mileage and effort in and that I was strong enough to comfortable complete the course and the distance.

The event remains my biggest disappointment though and I feel unfulfilled every time I think of my finish time of 5 hours 2 minutes. I remember feeling so low in the days afterwards, the usual post marathon slump coupled with me remembering the pain and anguish I went through in the last few miles. I can vividly remember experiencing pains in my sides as well as a feeling of dehydration and emptiness in the later stages of the race despite taking in plenty of fluids. I am pretty sure I was close to passing out as I thought my body and in particular my kidneys were going to give up on me.

Post marathon slump

Two days after the marathon I had a day off and had pre planned and booked a sports massage. My lowest running memory and possibly one of my lowest ebbs generally was waiting in the cubicle as the physio walked in. He greeted me in a cheery fashion and asked the usual pleasantries of how I was. I knew he meant it as a general courtesy and also about how my marathon had gone but I felt close to breaking down in tears as I felt so drained and had been left so low by the whole experience. I felt like crying and telling him a complete stranger how disappointed I felt with my short comings at the race. I knew he wouldn’t understand but I really felt like I needed an outlet for all my frustrations. Thankfully I didn't breakdown into an emotional wreck and managed to hold it together so that my muscles could reap the rewards of a soothing sports massage.

Over the coming days and weeks as I reflected more on the marathon I tried to remember not only the disappointment but the achievement I had accomplished in completing a gruelling marathon.

I hope to banish my negative experiences from this marathon with three great performances in my three upcoming marathons.

Thanks for reading,

If you have done the Beachy Head Marathon let me know how you found it...

If you are going to be running it this year good luck! All I can recommend is running lots of hills and trying to incorporate some steps into your run as well.

If you are thinking of doing it I would definitely recommend it as a difficult mental and physical challenge and the scenery along the route is amazing!

 

1st run with my new camel pack

For this weekends long run the plan was to run around 30K as my major long run before the marathon 3 weeks today. 

The run was also going to be my first venture with my new addition to my running apparel, a long desired camel pack/running bladder.

I have really wanted one for ages as an addition to my long distance running gear and decided to order one from amazon. It was pretty cheap but had a high number of really positive reviews so I decided to go for it just to see how I got on with using one.

Being 3 weeks to my marathon and this being one of my last long runs I decided to focus on practicing my race preparation. 

So I put 100% effort into my preparation, Friday evening I loaded up on protein with a steak, Saturday I carb loaded and was selective in eating clean and whole foods. Saturday evening I ate my pre race meal of double carbs in the form of potato and brown rice with chicken and vegetables, completed with a protein shake before bed.

Sunday morning I continued my carb loading with an early breakfast of cereal, flapjack and fruit juice at 5.30 before returning to bed until 7.00. At 7.00 I got up and had my second breakfast of cereal with natural yogurt with another flapjack. I then prepared my gear for my run:

I took an energy drink before I set off and spent some time making sure I was comfortable with my camel pack before I headed out.

So off I went, my route was to head through Ingrebourne Country Park out to Rainham and along the Thames out to Purfleet and back.

I started off feeling so good, really feeling the benefits of my training and feeling so strong and fit. The feeling of being 'carbed to the max' felt good as I really felt I had fuel to burn over the next few hours.

I was aiming to run just over 5minute/km splits but my first Km was nicely under the 5 minute mark. I started to focus on slowing it down and settling into a rhythm, when just coming up to my second Km I felt pain in the ball of my foot. I shrugged it off as a niggle that I could run off, I soon realised I had been covering a whole Kilometer while experiencing pain with every foot strike. So I reluctantly but sensibly decided to stop, I walked for a few hundred metres and the pain eased off so I sped up to a jog only for the pain to return.

After walking for another minute or two I pulled over to sit on a bench. I removed my right trainer and started to rub and massage the sore area as I thought it could be a cramp as I have suffered from cramp in the same place before. After a bit of rubbing and mobilising of the area I set off again only for the pain to return again after a short while.

Now I was in a dilemma, if its an injury I need to stop to avoid making it worse and to hope that I could still successfully take part in the marathon in 3 weeks time, but if its not a serious injury I really need to run through it as I need to get a long 30K run under my belt.

I kept on running trying to push through the pain hoping it would ease off. It wasn't getting any better though and I noticed I was starting to twist my ankle to compensate against the pain in my foot to try and put less pressure on it. I knew this was bad news that would only get worse so I started to come to terms with the fact I wasn't going to be able to see this run through.

Continuing along the path I was reluctantly starting to think about pulling up but was so keen to keep going, then around the next corner I was confronted with this:

The path had been a little watery but now it was completely flooded where the path passes alongside the river Ingrebourne. All the way to the gate you can see ahead the path was flooded and I could see it was a good few inches deep. That was it! I decided this was a sign that the run was over and I gloomily turned around to trudge home. I had only covered 3.5Km.

It was disappointing and so difficult to come to terms with on many levels. The main two being all the preparation I had put into the run, the eating, the getting up early now all for nothing! The second being that my training for the marathon would suffer without this long run especially as I had only manged 20K last weekend due to illness.

Anyway I was soon home and starting my rest and recovery process.

Lots of RICE for me today and I guess I will just have to see how I go to see as to whether I can get up an running again soon and maybe squeeze in a long run in the next day or two or leave it until the weekend.

I wasn't resting for long though as after a bit of ice I decided I had all the energy and preparation to do something so I had to do some activity, so I headed out on my bike and covered the same route I had planned to run. I must have covered close to 30Km in just under 2 hours, as I had consumed close to 1500 calories before heading out to run I needed to do some exercise and I felt so much better for getting back out and doing something.

Thanks for reading, come back soon to see how I recover from this injury and if I can get back up and running this week.

Are you a secret runner?

Just wanting to check something....

Does anyone else hide their running away from colleagues or maybe friends? Or am I alone in my attempt to keep my running life a secret?

Today I was asked by two different colleagues did I have a race coming up and was I training for anything at the moment, and to both I quite bluntly replied no! This is despite the fact I have a marathon in about 3 weeks which is the start of my 3 marathons in 3 months.

I am not ashamed or shy of my running achievements or ambitions just I find it easier to keep things to myself, I don't like the fuss and attention you see.

I wondered though is this normal or is this quite unusual? 

I have a reputation at work for being a health freak as its known that I seem to have super human powers (well people seem to find it unbelievable that I can go to the gym before work, that I run for fun, that I can get through my day without drinking coffee every thirty minutes and that I have the restraint to not gorge myself on chocolate cake whenever there is a birthday in the office, pretty average things in my book), so the fact I run in events from time to time is common knowledge.

I guess I just don't want the pressure of everyone knowing and could do without the inane interest of people who don't understand my running lifestyle.

There is a fellow runner at work and I don't mind disclosing my plans to him as I suppose he gets where I am coming from and can appreciate my aims and objectives more fully. Even he seems reluctant to let on about his events and does what he can to keep a low profile when running at lunch or home from work.

So how do you play it with your non runner friends or colleagues? Would be great to hear your experiences and stories and whether you are a secret runner or not! 

Training update, midweek long run, tiredness and steak

So after being so ill last week I am definitly back up and running now.

With the girst of my three autumn marathons just over three weeks away I am focusing hard on my training and working hard in this important section of my training plan but it is tough going.

My 22K long run at the weekend was followed up by a 4K recovery run on Monday, some interval treadmill running on Tuesday and a 14K run on Wednesday night.

Overall I feel my training is going pretty well, I am definitly feeling stronger and am continuing to increase my fitness and stamina. 

However I have reached the hard part of a training program. Training has started to become somewhat arduous as spending so many hours a week running takes its toll, I am feeling much more tired from the increased training and early starts as well as a surge in hunger of wanting to eat anything and everything but trying to stay strict to my diet objectives.

I am sure all runners recognise these kind of symptoms of a hard training program, but although hard I know this is ther period that if I stick at it will have big rewards when it comes to race day.

I am already experiencing a massive indicator that my training is going well as my trousers are starting to hang off me and I am down to the last hole on my belt. I think I should buy some extra clothes to wear just for the few weeks before an event when the weight has dropped off and my regular clothes stop fitting!

Last nights run was over a made up route of new streets to explore coupled with familar sections of routes I usually run. 

I realised recently that as my training has grown in intensity and I have started pushing harder on runs that I have stopped taking photos on runs which I can appreciate makes my blog much less interesting!

So last night I tried to take a few interesting photos. This is the best view I experienced on my run, a giant St Georges flag flying proudly from a roof of a house on the edge of the country park a magnificent sight in the evening sunshine. Hopefully you can make it out, I found it quite a striking sight against the back drop of an open sky.

I have tried to refrain from taking the same photos that I have included in previous posts, heres a photo of the crowd that gathered to cheer me at one point on my route.

I say cheer it was more of a quack and if anything the latge numbers of water fowl aroynd the lake where I regularly run are an irritant as they tend to gather around the paths causing an obstruction as well as leaving plenty of slip hazards everywhere if you get what I mean!

By the time I got home I had time to knock up a bit of dinner before it was time to settle down and watch the second World Cup semi final of Holland v Argentina.

This was actually my first shot at cooking steak at home using my George Foreman grill and although it turned out far more well done than rare which is what I was aiming for it was still pretty good!

With only the final remaining in the World Cup I am glad that I will be able to have more time available in the evenings and will be able to get to bed earlier. Staying up to watch games especially the 9pm kick offs have been difficult for me as they have eaten away at my usual early bed time routine so although I will miss the World Cup when it finishes I will welcome the extra sleep. 

Many thanks for reading!

Running return after illness

A weekend away followed by five days of illness meant I hadnt been running for six days.

I tested the water to make aure I was well enough to run on Friday evening with a gentle 7K run which went OK, but I wasnt sure how I was fixed for a weekend long run. Ideally I should have been aiming to complete my first run in the region of 30Km.

I wasnt sure as to what kind of distance or pace I would be up to as I still didnt feel 100% so I headed out with a vague notion of aiming to run around 2 hours.

After a couple of miles I knew I was OK to complete a half decent long run but it was also obvious I didn't have the energy or strength to run a great pace. 

I settled into a decent enough pace of around 5.30min/Km which I was comfortable with although this is somewhat slower than the pace I will be aiming for in the first half of my marathon and in particular the first quarter.

I managed to cover 22K in 2 hours and was just pleased to have got a half decent long run under my belt even though I know my training will now be one 30K run light.

Overall it was a very enjoyable run as I took on a new route linking a couple of country parks together in a kind of loop around my local area. It was nice to run on a real variety of terrains and through varied landscapes. My run took me through residental areas, open park park land, through woods, round lakes and along motorways running on grass, pavement, gravel paths, muddy tracks and tarmac.

I was so thankful to be back up and running and glad I wasn't laid up ill for any longer. Hopefully thats now my illness allocation used up and I will get a good run of clean health in the build up to my marathons.

One month countdown

Today is a big day, one month count down to my first of three autumn marathons.

How do I feel?

If you had asked me last week my answer would have been very positive as I was on the back of a 7 day runstreak and feeling strong and fit. 

However I have been ill since Sunday with some kind of nasty stomach bug, been off work all week barely well enough to leave the house let alone train. 

I feel so much weaker, feel like I have lost a lot of strength and my body has really struggled in its attempts to fight off the illness. 

As is always the way your diet goes out the window when your ill as lack of appetite and the desire for comfort food lead you to not always eating the healthiest of food choices.

So at the moment I feel pretty demoralized as missing a key week of training at this stage is a big blow. I am hopeful to get out for a decent run at the weekend if I feel well enough so fingers crossed for that.

My concern before falling ill was that although my training had gone well and I had pushed myself hard I was still some way short of being fast or fit enough to run a sub 4 marathon. After a week off I now know that the sub 4 mark is now even further out of reach. 

The challenge when getting back to training after illness is knowing when to start and then getting the balance right of how hard to ease yourself back to training and how hard to push. 

I know I need to just get back up and running but I also know I need a good long run of around 20K+ to stay on course with my training but am fearful that I will not have the energy or strength for this and it will be too much too soon after my illness. 

Any way fingers crossed I get back to full strength and fitness quickly so I can power on with my training and head full steam towards the marathon! 

Enough of my ramblings, thank you for reading, I hope everyone is fit and healthy and any tips or advice on training after illness would be gratefully received. 

Todays blog - Football, hill running, PB and Parkrun

Today's running blog, three points to discuss.

1    1. Last nights run

Last night before the crushing disappointment of England losing to Uruguay in the World Cup I headed out for a bit of a quick run.

My route was one that I have done several times but not recently and is a bit of a hill run. It’s basically running up out of a dip, back down into and then up the other side and down again and repeating this three times. The elevation of the course looks like this:

Although they are not massive hills and there isn’t a massive elevation rise it’s a testing run to try and run at speed and it keeps you working the full course.

Last night feeling good and running well in my new trainers I clocked a time of 32.49 with an average Km split of 4.31min/km which is the fastest average split I have run in a long time! 

Really pleased with the result I have looked over my previous times from early this year or in August and September last year when training for my last marathon in October and my time compares really well. Generally I was running the course in about 34 minutes so I am really impressed in knocking around 2 minutes off my time and it is a good indication that my training is progressing well.

2    2. Tonights gym session and burrito

Tonight after work I am heading out to watch the football and tonights match France v Switzerland is an entertaining prospect. But before the merriment of watching football out in a pub with the associated accompaniment of drinking I will be hitting the gym followed by treating myself to a burrito as a way of refueling after the gym and lining my stomach ahead of the drinking.

I am planning a core and ab circuit session with some body weight resistance exercises focusing on press ups and maybe some kettle bell work as well. I haven’t hit the gym in the evening for a long time and am looking forward to an afternoon session where I am a bit more awake and invigorated than what I sometimes am when training at 7 am in the morning.

Not wanting to curse myself now but I am also looking forward to the gym being quiet as it hopefully will be on a Friday evening, we will see….

3    3. Tomorrows Parkrun

Buoyed by feeling fitter and stronger and the success of my quick run last night as outlined in point 1 I am hoping for a good time in parkrun on Saturday morning. This does of course factor heavily on what happens tonight staying out watching the football as outlined in point 2!

Seriously though I know I have a good time in me and want to rival my PB which is around 21.55, my new trainers are also adding extra speed to my run. I know realistically new trainers will add a little bit of speed as they are firmer and stronger etc but they also add a big mental boost as I feel so much more confident and quicker running in new trainers.

Fingers crossed for some great weather and a great run tomorrow morning!

All the best to everyone else giving parkrun a go this weekend or running an event, run well everyone! 

Cafe Burrito Review

Here is my latest burrito review this time from small London based chain Burrito Cafe. They currently have two restaurants one in Kings Cross and one in Charing Cross and I have visited both a couple of times now. 

I love burritos and have been wanting to do some kind of review/rating system of the various different chains. By the way I am more of a 'man v food' type of guy rather than getting all fancy and gourmet.

My visit this time was to the Charing Cross branch and it has had a colourful makeover since I was here last with vibrant Mexican colours of reds, blues, greens and yellows. 

But onto the serious business of the burrito, having been to burrito cafe a few times before I was keen to tuck into another one of their burritos as they have previously provided a satisying filling meal.

My experience was almost ruined as it got off to a terrible start as I accidentally took some of their hot salsa while helping myself to their complimentary nachos while waiting to be served. Thankfully I always carry a bottle of water with me and I was able to cool my mouth down soon enough but the salsa was so hot I was shocked with how sensitive my mouth is and how I need to be more cautious with hot spices! Anyway crisis averted I was doubly keen to munch my way through the tastiest burrito they had to offer.

The beauty of their Charing Cross location is that its a perfect stop for some food after a night out in the West End. I have employed this tactic a couple of time when heading back from being out in Leicester Square or after drinking in the Harp, (which is a fine drinking establishment by the way providing some great ciders) a few doors down the street. 

Soon enough I started picking out my ingredients and on this occasion my burrito fillings were:

Tomato rice

Re-fried beans

Pulled Pork

Peppers

Courgettes

Medium salsa

Guacamole 

Cafe burrito do quite well in offering options and additional items to the standard burrito ingredients because as well as the usual burrito staples they also offer courgettes alongside the standard peppers, sweetcorn with the usual salad and what looked like chillis if you are searching for that extra kick. 

An excellent added ingredient to a cafe burrito meal is the refreshing addition of a Sol beer. Sol is my favourite of the light Mexican style lagers such as Corona and Desperado and is the ultimate in summer refreshment when served nice and cold with a wedge of lime. If I wasn't such a big fan of Sol I wouldn't have been short of drink options as I was pretty impressed with the great drinks selection on offer, a wide selection of beers even a cider and some good looking soft drinks were also available. 

So to review the burrito; 

Tortilla wrap: plain, artificial and quite stodgy with quite a thick and gloopy texture with no real taste.

Rice: I went for tomato rice but they also had lime and coriander as an option, can't say I really noticed it in the burrito and didn't get any flavour from it. The rice seemed to be quite stodgy, balnd and over cooked in comparison to other places where it feels fresh and fluffy.

Pulled Pork: Nice, meaty and chewy but quite finely pulled so there wasn't a nice thick meaty chewiness to it. It also didn't have the feel of being fresh and cooked on the premises rather pre packaged and shipped in chilled or frozen to be warmed up for serving. 

Salsa: A pleasant light green dark salsa although perhaps a bit watery, it did mix in quite well with the guacamole to provide a soothing, cooling element to the burrito.  

Peppers: good, crunchy and pretty sweet.
Courgettes: Excellent, a real plus point for Burrito Cafe to provide this as an option as they add another element especially when they were really crisp and tasty like in my burrito. Being long and hard they provide a 'backbone' if you like the structure and a much needed bite to an either wise soft burrito.  
Refried beans: really good re-fried beans, they also had the option of black bean so it is good to have both options available but the re-fried beans I always go for and these were pretty good all nice and gloopy adding a good sayisfying consistency to the burrito experience. 
Guacamole: Not the same guacamole I have had here before I don't think? This was an attempt at fancy guacamole as it appeared to be of a more thinned down consistency but with larger lumps of avocado present along with red onion and chilli I think. Overall it wasn't very strong tasting but was cooling and pleasant. 

Overall: OK, not a lot of flavour and certainly no kick ass explosion of strong flavours as provided by Daddy Donkey and a real lack of an authentic Mexican taste. 

Burrito Cafe experience: Fine, pretty decent service, a pleasant place to sit and chill while you eat your food and drink your beer. The refurbished premises were clean and fresh but had a touristy feel to them rather than a serious establishment like Tortilla or Chipotle. The bright colours almost made the place feel garish but at the same time I am sure this appeals and attracts passing trade. 

The big plus points for Burrito Cafe are that they pack a mean burrito in terms of the large amount of fillings they manage to cram in and the fact the burrito is well made and holds together very securely. The addition of a sol to a burrito also instantly raises its rating so I must try not to let that cloud my judgement of the actual burrito. 

My overall experience would have to be a 5/10 as the burrito didn't blow me away with an explosion of taste but at the same time there was nothing it just didn't live up to anywhere near the high levels of other burritos.

As already mentioned it has real redeeming features such as the courgettes and the quantity of fillings they pack into a fully loaded burrito.

Next month I plan to try the nee barburrito in High Holborn.