A Happy Running Birthday

This weekend was my birthday and as soon as I realised a few months back that my birthday fell on a Sunday I knew I would be running somewhere. After all your birthday doesn't fall on a Sunday very often so as a runner you need to grab the rare opportunity of a birthday race. 

Initially I liked the idea of taking part in the London Winter Run, a mass participation 10K event through central London with fake snow and hugs from polar bears it looked like a whole lot of fun. Then my competitive side got the better of me and I thought about doing something a bit more ambitious and soon found a Half Marathon courtesy of RunthroughUK who were holding a range of races including a Half Marathon in Victoria Park. When my two running buddies Tony and Chris were keen on a Half marathon in the early part of the year it was all set. 

Not being a massive fun of Christmas I thought having an event in January was a perfect way to distract myself from all the Christmas nonsense with lots of training and then earn myself a nice, massive, shiny birthday PB. 

Great plan right?! What could be a better birthday gift to myself?

Well it didn't go quite to plan, I had a bit of a cough and cold over Christmas which scuppered my training plans then over New Year and into the early part of January it developed into a horrible cough. To make it worse I then suffers the triple whammy of flu, an infection in my tooth requiring root canal work and a slight calf strain. So long story short I wasn't stood on the start line in great shape.

But I'm getting ahead of myself the Half Marathon was the second part of my birthday weekend running adventures.

Part one was a meet up with UK Fitness Bloggers on Saturday morning for a 5K jaunt around East London. 

An expertly taken selfie courtesy of Michael @coachmikeybee

The meet up was organised by UK Fitness Bloggers founder Helen and hosted by the Runners Works, a running shop, runners training base, cafe, treatment facility all rolled into one just a few minutes away from Liverpool Street station. 

It was great to meet up with some fellow bloggers and we headed out on our run led my running coach Mollie who got us nicely warmed up before talking us through the course she had planned out for us.

The group of us of varying abilities jogged off towards Wanstead and I soon paired up with Alin who runs a great fitness blog with his wife and Beagles over at pennyplainfit.co.uk well worth checking out for fitness tips and healthy recipes. 

We chatted and took in the sites of a different part of the city and kind of meandered our way in the general direction of our planned route. OK so we got lost and ran about 6K but hey we had fun and got a few great selfies on the way round!

Most importantly we helped support RODS a charity for orphaned children with Down Syndrome. 

Post run we all made the most of the comfortable surroundings of the Running Works Cafe, Secret Frog and a tasty assortment of hot drinks and cakes. 

I really enjoyed this little adventures on a quiet Saturday morning in the normal bustling city, enjoying seeing some great site and meeting some new people.

So back to part two of my running weekend and the Half Marathon. Originally I thought Victoria Park would be quick and easy to get to as its East London location is not too far from my Essex home, early morning Sunday transport had other ideas! So a 5.30 alarm call for me! Happy Birthday indeed! 

At Mile End I met up with Tony and Chris and we jogged over to the start area. The forecasted heavy rain had so far held off but it wasn't to stay away all morning as a light but persistent drizzle started to fall about 15 minutes before the race start and continued throughout the race.

Race wise I knew it was going to be a struggle as I have only done one nine mile I the last month or two as my only long run so I left Tony and Chris to chase PBs and I set off on my plod round. 

I set off nicely and was well ahead of both a target pace (I hoped for around 4.55min/km) and my expected pace (I thought it would be a struggle to stay under 5.10min/km) after the first 7K. I ticked off the first 10K in 49 minutes and knew it was going to be a struggle for here on in, and it was.

If you know Victoria Park then you know it's not massive and so the Half Marathon route was 6.5 laps. Mental torture for some but for me I find running repetitive laps very freeing as it allows you to focus on your running as you are not thinking about the course ahead or what's around the next corner. 

Towards 8 miles I was starting to struggle and by mile nine I was unusually for me mid race in a dark place. I had a nagging pain in my left abdomen, I was wet and as my pace had dropped I had got so cold, my legs were tired and I didn't really want to run. My mind reflected on the fact I could have been having fun in central London at the Winter Run with all the Polar bears running a gentle 10K but no here I was not in fit enough shape to comfortable run 13 miles feeling cold, wet and miserable, what an idiot! 

After a while my energy gel kicked in and my mood brightened, miles 8 and 9 seemed to take forever but miles 10-13 flew by and I was soon kicking for the finish. It was great to have Tony and Chris support me in the final straight and finishing with my last kilometer being my fastest of the race was a real positive. 

An official final time of a disappointing 1.49.56 was only brightened by massive PBs from my two training partners. A big shout out to the increasingly impressive Bramster for knicking the groups Half Marathon record, it's only on loan! 

Post race frost bite and hypothermia seemed like real possibilities so we used what energy we had left to hot foot it to a nearby Costa for much need hot drinks and some calorific refueling. 

Overall, a part from the rain it was a decent event, well organised with enthusiast, friendly marshals with homemade flapjack and a great bit of bling you can't ask for too much more.

So that was my birthday weekend of running, 29K of running, some great locations, new friends made and great experiences. What better way to spend a birthday than to spend it running?! 

Ambitious April

With a spring marathon having passed me by due to a hectic start to the year (new job and a new flat, not recommended to do at the same time!) I now feel like I am in a position to reassess my spring ambitions.

Having recently completed the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon in February and the Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon at the end of March I am eager to use these as a staging point to mount an assault on my Half Marathon PB. Originally when I had booked these races in late 2014 they were meant to serve as preparation for a sub 4 hour marathon attempt in April or May but niggling calve problems and my previously mentioned hectic start to the year have put pay to that. So now I want to use them as a base for going for a PB.

Neither of the races were completed in overly impressive times mainly due to my new job and our flat move taking up a lot of time and hampering my training and my calves continually playing up since the start of the year.

Tunbridge Wells although the scene of my triumphant 1.39 PB in 2014 was not the scene of such victory this year as I finished in 1.51. It was really a triumphant to get round in a decent time though as I wasn't really fit enough to run it having not done enough preparation. 

Hampton Court Palace a few weeks later was better though as I had managed to put in a bit more training, my aim was to target my second best time of 1.46. I worked hard through a wet and windy race to finish in 1.48 which I was satisfied with as I know on the day I couldn't have worked any harder.

So now for April, I am really tempted by the Hackney vitality run on May 9th as it gives me abide six week period to sharpen up for a PB attempt.

I realise that with an ambitious aim I need to have an ambitious training programme to match.

Although I haven't ended up running a spring marathon my experiences of being involved with the Asics Target 26.2 boot camp and subsequently following the progress of not only the final five but other bootcampers has taught me a lot about the need to be prepared and to plan out your training.

So for April with my Half Marathon PB attempt in mind here is my plan for the month ahead:

3 x Half Marathon distance runs, 1 in the region of at least 1.45

3 x Hour runs aiming to complete 13K in the hour period

4  x treadmill interval sessions

3 x 10K runs, at least one in the region of 45 mins

3 x 5K runs including some park runs, I would like to get back to running sub 23mins

4 x recovery runs, long and slow.

This gives me 20 runs to complete in April and is modelled around the type of training I did prior to my PB, plenty of long distance runs with focus on speed runs of 10K and the 1 hour run trying to hit 13K. I also know weekly interval treadmill sessions will be important to build up my speed.

But this isn't all, I am also committed to doing the April ab crunch challenge with @runtoeatcake which is a challenge to complete ab crunches throughout the month.

I am also planning to start attending local bootcamp training that run insanity training and other boot camp sessions.

So all in all a very ambitious April ahead but one I looking forward to completing and reaping the rewards of some hard training not only in my Half Marathon but in the months ahead. 

Stay tuned to follow my progress! 

Overdue blog update!

Right it time to get back to blogging! 

The last few months has seen a new job and a new flat, a few trips away and injury niggles which has meant a downturn in both my running and blogging activities. 

But now things are starting to simmer down and settle back into some sort of routine.

This week I have been inspired and motivated by two runners to get back to my blogging and to throw myself back into training. 

The first inspiration was finishing Angry Jogger by Angry Jogger, a great read I would recommend to any runner who doesn't take themselves too seriously and wants to make the most of their running. I am planning a full review of the book in due course, watch this space! 

Secondly I met up with my Asics262 boot camp buddy Anthony McNeil for a catch up chat on his training ahead of tackling the Paris marathon in four weeks. You can read up on my Asics262 boot camp experience here and follow Tony's journey on his forum thread here. 

So in terms of my running I completed the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon a few weeks ago where I was soundly beaten by my brother in law Tom who had a blinding PB run. 

Not wanting a repeat performance at the Hampton Court Palace Half marathon we are both running in two weeks I have been training hard, but really just having a bit more time to train now after a busy few months will make all the difference with my performance. 

This morning I headed out for a long run from my mother in laws house in Dagenham and headed out along the the long, old, grim stretch of A13 to Rainham. 

From Rainham I marvelled at the new train station developments before following the new signage and heading out to Rainham marshes and then onwards to Purfleet.

The stretch along the Thames to Purfleet was cold and windy which made for tough going!

At the Purfleet RSPB nature reserve I stopped for a quick toilet break before turning to head home. 

On the route back I was interested to see how I felt especially after massively struggling on an 18Km run last weekend, after around 14Km I felt so good I decided to push it to see what I could achieve.

At the end of my run I reflected on running at least 23Km, around 12Km there and the same back. I ran the outward leg in around 1hour 8minutes and the return leg in about 1hour 3minutes. 

I was really pleased to run a negative split over a longer distance and my last 3 or 4 Kms must have all been a good 20-30seconds quicker than the first 3 or 4. 

I am so pleased to be back up and running well and enjoying it! Watch out Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon! 

I have plenty of ideas and articles to write up, so keep yours eyes out for lots from me to follow in the next few weeks. 

Getting on with 2015

Now that the Christmas break is over, the New Year festivities long passed and hopefully the Christmas chocolates all eaten it's time to crack on with 2015!

One of my last posts about running in 2014 mentioned that I feared I would be 'limping' into 2015 as I had been struggling with my calves (lower legs not cattle) and that has unfortunately been the case. My last proper run was an 8K run on 30th December, I attempted another run on the 1st January but had to abort after 1.25K as I was struggling with a bad back and my calves. 

The problem with my calves is compartment syndrome which was diagnosed by a sports therapist a few years back when I though I had shin splints. 

From what I understand it's basically lactic acid and waste products not exiting muscle tissue because of poor blood flow which then cause cramp like pain when the muscle is used for exercise. 

From what I have read it can often come on after a period of intensive training followed by a period of low or no exercise. Athletes can suffer with it in the off season when their training stops after intense periods of competition. That has certainly been the situation with me as I completed my 30 day run streak before doing next to no training and very little walking around while away over Christmas.

So the last week I haven't done any running or any impact training that have affect my calves, really scaled back my walking and just tried to rest my legs as much as possible. I have stretched my calves everyday and used the foam roller as well as icing my calves as much as I could. 

I still did plenty of training during the week, sessions on my stationary bike at home along with plenty or circuit work including upper body and core stability exercises. 

One of my regular circuits to do at home is squats, pressups, crunches and dips, my normal circuit is 25 squats, 25 pressups, 15 crunches, 15 dips x 3or4. 

I have also been working on core strengths through mountain climbers and other plank exercises. Through in some leg strengthening exercises and it has been a busy training week! 

Today was time to get back out and run, and I was so thankful to be able to get out and run successfully. I covered a very leisurely gentle 4.5km where I just tried to enjoy running again and focused on my technique. 

So after feeling no ill effects I am ready to crack on with my 2015 running aims, first up on the agenda the Hampton Court half marathon definitely booked for March and the Tunbridge Wells half marathon pencilled in for the end of February. 

Watch out 2015 here I come!