Sunday 31 May 2015

Getting back into marathon mode

Following on from a successful Parkrun yesterday where I added in an extra fee miles from the course to the station and then the station back home, today I had planned a long slow run.

My plan was to get into 'marathon mode', to run long, run slow, forget about running fast and just relax enjoy the run and without being cheesy 'get into the zone' and really enjoy running.

I was taking my hydration pack out for its first spin in a while to get used to carrying it again ahead of hopefully completing a few marathons in the autumn.

I had planned out a proposed route of sorts, an ambitious there and back route of at least thirteen miles heading through some local parks and out onto the London Loop sections 22 and 23 towards Rainham.

In the end I only ended up completing about half the route, firstly as it was a lot longer than I anticipated, secondly I was more tired from yesterday's running then I though and thirdly last nights enchiladas had played havoc with my stomach, but the less said about that the better! 


My adventure began after around 5k when I headed onto the first off-road trail section of the London Loop section 22. A quite little residential road leads downhill into a dark wooded area that looks like it should be the setting of a horror movie as it is so out of place at the end of this quiet suburban road.


The trail is great though and an enjoyable but technical route to run.


It soon opens up into a large meadow which was beautifully in flower in this early part of the summer.


Some more trails around some ploughed fields and through hound woodland and I was soon back into built up residential areas. A quick lap around the Upminster Bridge area including the start of the London Loop section 23 And I then started on my return journey taking much the same route.

A slightly different path took me past some some lovely pink flowers.


I also had a quick stop to chat with the resident pony that lives in a little small holding along the route.


After a quick chat and a few handfuls of grass, (for the pony not me!) I headed onto through the fields and along some nice green trails.




Soon enough I was heading for home and back into Pages Wood and then Harold Wood Park before less than 2kms back to home to round off an 18km run in a snip under 2 hours.

Once home I was quickly into a cold bath to aid my recovery as these form a key part of recovery strategy after longer runs.


All in all a really enjoyable run, some great sights to see and really what I wanted in terms of just running slowly and enjoying the scenery. 

The London Loop is a network of pathways designed to provide a route encircling greater London, you can find out more about the London Loop on the TFL website here, the sections I partly ran were sections 22, Harold Wood to Upminster Bridge and section 23, Upminster Bridge to Rainham. I have previously ran these sections in their entirety and you can read about my experience doing that here. The best way to find out more about the routes make up the London Loop is by reading other peoples experiences, a quick google will bring up a plethora of pages. There are several pages by people who have walked, cycled or ran large parts and in some cases all of the London Loop, a particular blog I have enjoyed reading on this subject and many others is Diamond Geezer which is well worth a look, his post on section 22 can be read here

Saturday 30 May 2015

Hackney Marshes Parkrun 5th birthday celebrations

So this morning I headed off on what is becoming a regular trip to Hackney Marshes Parkrun for a showdown with running buddies Tony and Chris. 

With Tony still fresh from his Asics262 marathon triumph in Paris and Chris coming off the back of two sub4 marathons in three weeks I knew it would be a tough challenge to keep up with these two. A speed work session with Tony on Thursday morning over at the Regents Park running track where Tony left me behind while he had plenty more speed than me left in the tank had me wondering if I was going to compete with him today.


The reason for a running meet up this particular weekend was to help celebrate Hackney Marshes parkruns 5th birthday celebrations. And we weren't the only ones making the journey over for the celebrations as we joined a field of 176 runners. 

This was my third visit to Hackney Marshes and I must say its a great little setup, a super flat speedy Tarmac course, a nice green tree flanked route and a friendly mix of runners of all abilities, so I was pleased to join them for the celebrations.

An enjoyable part of the experience is my journey to Hackney marshes, although the train journey is quieter than a work day that's not the enjoyable part it's the gentle walk through the Olympic Park to the Parkrun start/finish.




So onto the run its self, a large crowd, prizes and awards for deserving regulars and a host of new timers made for an exciting atmosphere at the start. My excitement was heightened though by a bit of celebratory spotting as spied Ronnie the rocket O'Sullivan lining up at the start. I admit I do get pretty stray struck and am not one to pluck up the courage to strike up a chat or ask for a photo. I was pretty amazed when in the opening few hundred metres as I started to battle through some congestion on the course I felt a hand on my shoulder as another runner tried to avoid colliding with me and to look round and see the snooker legend himself sneak past me! Not only is he a speedy snooker ball potter but he's also a speedy runner as he finished in an awesome time of sub19 minutes.

Courtesy of Hackney Marshes parkrun facebook page
But how was my race? I was eager to try and replicate my form from my 21 minute PB a few weeks back but I knew I wasn't quite in the same shape. 

I took the first km or so a bit easier and breezed past Chris at around 1km, Despite our friendly rivalry I was conscious to try and run my own race rather than concentrating on competing. I maintained a faster pace and felt comfortable up to the half way mark which I reckon I clocked in a faster time than during my PB run.

The second half was a struggle as I tried to keep going after going off too quick  it was made harder knowing Chris was on my shoulder and I expected him to ghost past me at any stage. I managed to hold off the threat of Bramster but as we started to head for home I spotted Tony out of the corner of my eye starting to mount an attack in the closing stages. I struggled in the closing minutes, I still need to work on my strength, the finish wasn't helped by my anticipation of the end. Every time the course bent round I kept thinking it was the home straight only to be disappointed no have further to run! I mustered a semi sprint finish in the last 50m or so and crossed the line in 21.29 luckily having enough to hold off my challengers. 

Looking at my splits I was happy to see a decent even pace, the first km is quick though (if you think it would realistically be a good bit quicker due to a delay at the start), so I need to think about starting slower to be able to run faster later on in the race. 


After the race there was a delicious array of cakes for hungry runners to tuck into. 


Although I won the race between the three of us the performance victory goes to Tony with a shiny new PB in the region of 40 seconds! Chris as well worked hard to run strongly but by his own admission is struggling to recover from two sub4 marathons in three weeks and a half marathon PB shortly after. 


Whatever the results and achievements it was another enjoyable Parkrun and aanother day to celebrate why I enjoy running! 

Thursday 21 May 2015

Glad to be out running

After 10 days without running I got back out running today.

Not quite headline grabbing news and ten days is hardly an age but for me it has felt like weeks of not months.

After the Hackney Half Marathon I knew I needed some rest and recovery time for my calves as I have had problems with them all year and they were just so tight and painful.

So I took a week off running, applied ice at least once a day and after a few days started some gentle rolling. 



Then on Monday after I had already given my calves a week to rest I had a sports massage which was great for loosening up not only my calves but my hamstrings as well.

Then today I headed out on a lovely warm sunny afternoon for a gentle 30 minute run, no time, no pace and no real set route. And it was glorious! It was great to run after a long lay off, great not to have pain in my calves and great to just get out and run without worrying about training for an up coming race.

I will now go for a longer run at the weekend and fingers crossed I hope I will be back to full running fitness!





































Sunday 17 May 2015

My weekly training update

This time last week I had just completed the Hackney Half Marathon and after some rest and recovery and some post race eating it was time to look forward with my training plans. 


Rather than looking ahead to my next event this time my focus has been on rest and recovery. 

Since the start of the year I have struggled with my calves, tightness and pain often when walking and especially when running. My calves have always been my week spot ever since I started running many years ago. A few years back I went for a sports massage as part of treatment for what I thought was shin splints only to be advised that my problems were more likely to be a result of compartment syndrome in my calf muscles. After some treatment and rest I was back up and running but I have always paid close attention to any discomfort in my calves and given them special attention in terms of extra strectching and foam rolling. 

But now the problem has returned and I know I will need a period of rest before I am ready to resume with my running. 

So this week instead of enjoying the light and warm spring evenings out running I have instead been indoors on the sofa looking a bit like this:


I have a sports massage booked for tomorrow so I know that will help and I will see what I am advised in terms of when I should get back to running. 

Away from training the other notable news from me is that I have now set up a Facebook page for my blog, if you would like to follow me on Facebook here's a link to my page, thanks! 

Nutrition wise I have been more relaxed in my diet and have enjoyed a few homemade pizzas this week. Comprising of a whole grain wrap as a base, whatever veggies and bits in the fridge I have for toppings topped off with cheese they are a really tasty snack and a slightly healthier option to a takeaway or frozen pizza. 


I am also in the midst of a food addiction at the moment, it's not the unhealthiest of food addictions so I have not fought to curb my addiction. It is however starting to dominate my fridge: 



My addiction is yogurt! I just can't stop eating it! Whether it's a few spoonfuls as a snack, as part of a smoothie or with yogurt I am loving it! Especially Yeo Valley Vanilla and Blueberry flavours and Icelandic Skyr yogurt not only because it reminds me of my recent trip to Iceland but because it's so high in protein and so low in fat! I would definitely recommend trying it out! 

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone is out enjoying the early summer sunshine. 

Friday 15 May 2015

My homemade protein bar experiment

So I decided to make myself some homemade protein bars. It was a spare of the moment decision, I saw an easy to make recipe online when looking for some circuit training ideas and as I am running low on whey powder i thought why not give it ago!

I popped into my local supermarket on the way home and soon enough I was in the kitchen making a mess concocting my very own protein bars.



So how did they turn out I hear you ask?

Ummm.....

Pretty awful!

They are calorific, don't have much protein in and don't taste too good at all.

Protein bars aren't meant to be super tasty like chocolate bars so I wasn't surprised they didn't taste great and they had a similar consistency to your average protein bar that is grainy, unnatural and pretty much unpleasant.

I shouldn't have been surprised really as the ingredients are pretty basic, oats, milk a bit of honey and peanut butter, a lot of peanut butter, OK they are basically just peanut butter! This goes someway to explain why they aren't any good! 

After a quick bit of maths I worked out that although at pretty great value at just 20p a serving a return of only 12g of protein and about 400 calories ago was unbelievably awful!



So now I am stuck with a fridge full of homemade high calorie yuck which doesn't really deliver on my specification of being a post workout high protein hit.

So other than providing an amusing baking fail to amuse readers all I have done is waste a perfectly good tub of peanut butter!

Someone must have some better suggestions? Anyone any have recipes or ideas to improve on my efforts? It would be great to hear from you if you have any suggestions and if you fancy a try of my protein bars please do get in touch! It will save me eating it all!

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Hackney Half Marathon

The Hackney Half Marathon held in East London on 10th May marked my tenth ever half marathon.



Spanning some 9 years my half marathon times have improved markedly from struggling to just be able to dip under the 2 hour mark in the early days to my impressive PB of 1.39 which I achieved last year that I am incredibly proud of.

I am pleased to say that Hackney marked my second fastest ever time where I finished in 1.43. 


A rather weary post race selfie!
After two disappointing half marathon races this year at Tunbridge Wells and the Hampton Court where I hadn't been able to train enough to put in a run I could be proud of I wanted a race where I could train hard for and run equally hard to at least get close to my PB.

So I opted for the Hackney Half marathon which is in its second year forming part of the Vitality series taking place on Hackney Marshes. Incidentally a venue I have become familiar with due to recent visits to the Hackney Marshes parkrun where I recently ran a 21 minute minute parkrun smashing my PB. I picked Hackney out of the plethora of spring half marathons as it was local (ish as in its in London as opposed to the other end of country), was around six weeks after Hampton Court which felt like an optimal time to build on this race and push for a PB and it is also advertised as a super fast strong PB potential course.


One of the landmarks on the route the RUN sculpture in the Olympic Park
And after parting with the best part of fifty quid to enter the race had a lot to deliver!

And to be fair it pretty much did!

Arriving at the race village was like walking into a festival field full of carnival atmosphere, people chilled, relaxed and ready to have a good time. Which I know isn't everyone's emotions when they think about running 13.1 miles around East London.


The awesome race village which had a real festival atmosphere
I had arranged to meet up and run with my Asics bootcamp buddy Chris Brammer as we figured we were equally matched for pace and both fancied a crack at breaking the 100 minute mark and running a sub 1.40 time, Chris to improve on his 1.46 PB now that he has two sub4 marathons under his belt and me to prove my 1.39 last year was no fluke.

We had a clear strategy in place, 2-3 kms at around 5min/km pace before settling into the required 4.45min/km rhythm before hopefully finishing with a few quicker kms closer to the 4.30min/km mark.

Negative splitting, fueling strategies, warming up gradually over the first few kms, using the 1.45 pacer as a market we had discussed it all like a well thought out military campaign.


The Obit and Olympic Stadium as I walked my way to the start area
The time soon came to take our place in the starting pens and this is where my only criticism of the race organisation comes in. The starting straight was far to narrow for the volume of runners and could have done with being twice as wide and as for having a designated walkway cutting through the starting pens still open minutes before the start? Sheer lunacy! Needless to say chaps congestion and a fair bit of runners being squeezed into the starting pens like stressed commuters on an overcrowded rush hour Northern Line ensued.

Organisers please take note!

Anyways we started the race around half a dozen tightly packed runners behind the 1.45 pacers. The first few hundred metres were similar to most races, finding your feet, warming your legs up and meandering in and out of runners trying to settle into your own rhythm. 

We covered the first km in around 4.45 minutes and I was conscious to slow it down a bit and relax into 5 minute km pace as to not peek to soon and burn up too much energy. 

However allowing the pace down didn't feel right I kept surging past slower runners and pushing the pace rather than easing into the race.

Around the 2k mark I started to feel too hemmed in as there was a big bunch of runners sticking close to the 1.45 pacer, feeling the need to see a few inches of clear road in front of me I pushed on. 

I went through 5km in sub 24 and tried to maintain pace through the halfway point where I passed 10 in sub 49. I wasn't suffering at all from the slightly faster start and realise now that my faster race start was due to a caffeine energy gel I took pre race, although I have used one before I haven't had one in a while so wasn't used to the sudden injection of energy. 

I had by now left Chris and the 1.45 pacer behind, I knew Chris wouldn't be too far behind and as a more experienced and disciplined runner I knew he would be running a steady and consistent pace towards his goal. I dare not look behind me as I didn't want to be panicked by my proximity to the 1.35 pacer. 

So what about the route? Well I will be honest and say it left me quite uninspired as it failed to live up to the pre race hype. You didn't see as much of the Olympic park as I thought although turning a corner to be greeted by the incredible view of Olympic stadium and Orbit at around mile 10 was pretty awesome. 

The course also wasn't as 'flat as a pancake' as runners were promised, true there are no hills but there are several inclines and undulations that are enough to blow the wind from your sails.

What about the support? The support in places was amazing, really amazing, some of the best I have ever encountered. One section in particular will live long in the memory, it was at almost 10 miles I think just around the corner from Hackney Wick Overground station as you go up a bit of an incline over the canal. The road narrowed and was completely surrounded by supporters banging saucepans, cheering and waving banners, it was like a scene from the Tour de France as words of encouragement had also been drawn on the ground, a truly inspiring scene that spurred me on and made my hairs stand on end. Thank you people of Hackney for your support you deserve medals for your efforts!


And the conditions? Last year the run was held in June and it turned out to be too hot so this year it was moved forward to May and guess what? It was still pretty hot! On Sunday evening as I relaxed after eating a mountain of food it was my sunburnt face that was causing me problems not my aching legs so that gives you an idea of how warm it was and how strong the sun was. 


Part of the mountain of food I ate post race
So my tenth half marathon, my second fastest time and a run that is definitely in my top few half marathon races. I think the half marathon remains my favourite race distance and Hackney is a great example of a brilliant half marathon which I would highly recommend for beginners and PB chasers. 

Check out the goodie bag below, quite a stash and an awesome medal so at least you can see what the fifty quid entry fee went on. 


Did you run the #HackneyHalf this year? Or were you were of the supporters helping to create a remarkable atmosphere? I would love to hear your experiences from the race, I hope you had a successful run and enjoyed the day just as much as I did. 

Saturday 9 May 2015

How I smashed my parkrun PB

How was your Bank Holiday Weekend? Was it an opportunity to get some running in? Maybe the Milton Keynes Marathon? A parkrun? Or just getting in some miles for your next event?

For me it was quite a low mileage weekend as I prepare for the Hackney Half next weekend the 10th May.

I did however head over to Hackney Marshes for parkrun on Saturday morning. Its my second visit over to their flat and fast course and where as last time I wasn't in great shape to capitalise on the speedy conditions this week I was!

Last month on the 3rd April I struggled to complete the course in 23 minutes and if it wasn't for the pacing from Chris Brammer I doubt I would have ran 24 minutes let alone 23.


But this weekend just four weeks on from my 23 minute time I crossed the line in a a superb tome of 21 minutes flat! Not only was my time vastly improved but I felt OK running faster compared to feeling awful at running the slower time last time out.

So how did I achieve this improvement in a relatively short period of time?

A disappointing time and performance in April made me realise how much my training had fallen off in the first few months of the year. I realised I needed to push myself hard to get my fitness levels back to where they once were so I could be in a good position to launch a good assault at a sub4 marathon later on in the year as well as being able to try and run a sub 1.40 half marathon at Hackney on the 10th May.

So running a faster parkrun become a small objective as part of my bigger running goals.

To help me towards my goals I launched my ambitious April campaign which set myself some ambitious goals for April as the name suggests.

But what were the changes to my training that resulted in me running so much faster? 

1. Speed work

The main element of my training in between the two parkruns has been speedwork which has comprised of two components:

Treadmill intervals

In the period between  the two parkruns I completed ??? Treadmill interval sessions. These runs were generally your typical interval splits of a period of high speed followed by a resting period at a more comfortable pace. As a general guide my sessions would comprise of 2 minutes of a slower pace of 10.0km per hour followed by 1 minute or 2 minute bursts of 14.0-14.5km per hour repeated 3 or 5 times.

I started off with 3 circuits of slower paced times at 14.0km and then building this up towards completing 5 circuits at 14.5km.

I also completed some fartlek sessions on the treadmill where I would alternate my pace between 10.0 & maybe 15.0 km per hour running bursts of 30 seconds, a minute or longer at a variety of paces.

The other session I did once or twice as I got faster and more confident was going from a gentle walk at 6.0km per hour to sprinting for up to a minute at speeds of up to 16.0km per hour, a real lung buster to keep things fresh!

Track work

Another element to my training which I have recently started to incorporate is track work. This follows my experiences at the asics 26.2 bootcamp where the main training exercise was a 5K track run. The run was split into sections 400m easy, 200m hard and repeated over the 12 laps which I think means you have a 400m hard section to finish with. 

So using the running track on the North West side of Regents Park I have been repeating this session. I cant pretend its an easy session but then its not meant to be either. Its pretty tough firstly to keep pushing yourself repeatedly for the harder sections, secondly to keep motivated to stick to the plan and thirdly to keep mentally focused on the task. It can be pretty tricky sticking to the 400m & 200m  splits multiple times when you get tired and your mind stats to wander.

Having completed this session twice I had improved by about 49 seconds on my second attempt a week after my first although feel I wasn't at the peak of my performance on either attempt. Apparently its common for runners to record times faster than their PB during this kind of session and I will be looking to record some faster times in the coming months.

2. Insanity fitness classes

In between the two parkrun attempts I have started attending fitjess fitness a local fitness class that do insanity classes on a weekly basis. I completed the class in three consecutive weeks prior to the second parkrun and although I have it hard I think it has been really beneficial.

The class is so tough with minimal rest breaks and has been a great cardio workout and has left me drowning in my own sweat every time! It has definitely been a big factor in increasing my cardio capacity which is so important in increasing my short term sprint capacity for a 5k run. 

I would highly recommend an insanity or similar bootcamp circuit training style class to any runner as a great way to improve fitness through cross training. 

3. Improving my gym training

Working on the idea that in order to change the outcome of a race you need to change the training that goes into preparing for the race I concentrated on changing the training I did in the gym.

Some examples of what I have done in the gym in the interim period between my two runs are as follows:

  • 1 minute rowing sprints - completing 1 minute at maximum exertion on the rowing machine and either repeating or alternating with other cardio exercises.
  • Higher intensity warm ups - Such as a few minutes higher intensity on the cross training rather than slower sessions.
  • core/ab work - A few new exercises incoropoarted into my routine such as a plank push up which is demonstrated here a great exercise to work you upper body as well as your core muscles. 
Pushing myself that bit harder in the gym and focusing my efforts on training that is a bit more specific although harder has definitely been worth it in terms of feeling fitter and stronger. 

So mixing these improved training techniques with some good nutrition has been the foundation to achieve my faster parkrun time and smashing my PB. I hope you have found this helpful and motivational to help you improve your own training and results. If you have any other suggestions on techniques you have used I would love to hear them!