Day 1 of my runstreak

Todays run: Morning - distance/tempo - pavement/trail - 8.52km - 46.34mins

So today is the first day of my planned 29 day runstreak, OK so today isn't really a runstreak but just a normal run but I am hoping it will develop into a long runstreak.

The full reasoning behind my runstreak can be read here. The plan for my runstreak is to run for 29 consecutive days and to cover a minimum of 5km a day. I plan to incorporate a range of different runs including morning and evening runs, sprint and interval training, running partially to and from work, a parkrun or two and a pre Christmas Santa run. 

For my first day I headed off earlyish as I am on a day off work. Normally when I head off before 9 am on a weekend its so quiet with not many people about but on a Monday morning it was so busy! It was so weird to see so much traffic with people on their way to work and kids off to school and college. It was weird to have so many people getting in the way of my early morning relaxing run!

The colours of the trees in the late autumn are really amazing at the moment non more so than the trees outside at our flat. 

As my runstreak is in support of Pancreatic Cancer and November's Pancreatic Cancer awareness month I thought it only right I wore my Pancreatic Cancer research fund top from when I ran the British 10K for them two years ago.

My route was heading out to my local country park Ingrebourne Way and I was aiming to do around 10K.

The route took me along part of the Spitfire Scramble course which brought back good memories from August this year when I took part in this 24hour race event.

As always it is an interesting and scenic place that I enjoy running through.

So that's day one of a potential 29 completed, 8.5km covered of at least a potential 150km if I run at least a minimum of 5km a day.

Thanks for reading and can follow my runstreak progress on twitter, bloglovin, pinterest or google+.

Runstreak Challenge

Struggling with some post marathon hangover blues and eager to have another challenge before the end of the year I am about to embark on a 29 day runstreak.(Relax a runstreak does not involve me taking my clothes off! It's just running on consecutive days!)

Inspired by runtoeatcake and her advent runstreak I decided that my own runstreak would be a great idea and a great challenge to finish off the year with. I very much liked the idea of a 29 day running challenge to mark the end of my 29th Year before my 30th birthday and this would provide me a great training opportunity to keep training and improving my fitness over the dark and cold winter days we have ahead of us. 

The idea of running an event for charity has also been weighing on my mind as it has been a while since I did this.

The charities most prominent in my thoughts in recent years have been those associated with Pancreatic cancer notably the Pancreactic Cancer UK and Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund due to the loss of my Father in Law 3 years ago. 

With the third anniversary of his death coming up shortly these charities are all the more relevant at this time of year. 

When I did a quick bit of Internet research and discovered that November is Pancreatic Cancer awareness month a big bright light bulb went off in my mind as all the strands of my idea started to come together. 

So here we have it a 29 day runstreak challenge raising money and awareness for Pancreatic Cancer with the special memory of Dan Regan in mind.

I have set up a JustGiving page where you can donate to my fundraising which you can access here.  

To find out more about the great work being done to raise awareness of this awful cancer and to combat the disease you can read more on the following links:

Pancreatic Cancer UK 
Macmillan Cancer support
Cancer Research 
The Pancreatic Cancer Research fund

Thanks for reading and your support as I embark on this latest challenge, I plan on writing regular updates via my blog and my twitter account so stay tuned!

Three marathons in three months summary

Three marathons in three months completed, the challenge I had myself as a physical ambition before my 30th birthday, my aim that I have worked towards for the last eight months, finished, completed, all done and dusted.

Three marathons in three months has certainly been tough and challenged me which is exactly what I wanted, OK so it's nothing when you compare it to other marathon challenges you might have seen in the media over the last few years such as Eddie Izzard's 43 marathons in 51 days, Amy Hughes running 53 marathons in 53 days and Rob Young currently aiming to complete 367 marathons in 2014. 

These accomplishments are well ahead of my own and all deserve so much praise and recognition for their incredible physical achievements.


So how do I feel now that my focus for so long is now over?

On the one hand I am pleased to be able to relax and not be concerned with the demands of training. On the other hand I feel disappointed and empty to not have something to work towards at the moment, I am definitely in a typical post marathon slump experiencing some post marathon blues. 

Don't worry though I am already making plans for 2015!

I am planning a 10K in January so I can focus on getting stronger and faster over the winter months to be able to then put in a speedy race in the new year and make a competitive attempt at breaking by PB!

Aside from that I am also aiming for at least 3 marathons next year and these are likely to include Halstead, South Weald and Vanguard Way again and who knows what else....

Here is a recap on my three marathons:


1/2 - The Vanguard Way Marathon - 3rd August time: 4.55

Race report here

In summary a great run, with terrific scenery exploring an unfamiliar part of the country with some tough hills and terrain. My training and preparation was good and during my training I had established a good card loading fueling strategy for the race which worked well. Obviously getting lost (not once, not twice but three times!!!) really frustrated me and curtailed any chances of a competitive time. I am fairly confident that without the detours I could have ran a time of around 4.30. Realistically this kind of event with its tricky terrain was never going to be about PBs and it was more of a run about enjoying the scenery and the challenge of the course which I feel I did on both counts.



2/3 The Robin Hood Nottingham Marathon - 28th September - time: 4.10 - PB!

Race report here

A proper large scale mass participation city marathon such as this is such a different proposition to an off road trail run and in honesty not one that I enjoy as much. Although it was a relief to run on nice flat tarmac roads where I could just get on and run rather than worry about steep hills or muddy conditions underfoot. 

My training had progressed well since the first marathon and although my challenge was a marathon every month the timings of the first two meant the gap was actually 8 weeks so I had ample time to recover and then kick on with my training again. 

Although my diet and nutrition were not as strict as they had been in the build up to the Vanguard marathon I had trained hard and felt I had progressed well. However the week or two before I really didn't feel good and struggled to train and was not in the greatest shape on race day. Over training, illness, mental/nervous/anxiety issues, poor diet/nutrition or a combination of some or all of these I am not sure. 

The race itself went really well though and I put in a solid performance which I was pleased with aside from the PB time which of course was very satisfying.

3/3 South Weald - 27th October - time: 4.34

Race report here

Easily one of my most enjoyable events, in terms of the route, the scenery, my performance and my overall race experience. A really tough route that rates as the second hardest course of the five marathons I have ran so to come away with my third faster marathon time and my fastest off road marathon time felt really rewarding. I definitely noticed an improvement with my marathon running and my mid race strategy and mental planning. 

The magical sub 4 hour mark

As well as the challenge of completing three marathons in a relatively short period of time and keeping up with the demands of training over a several month period my real goal was to try and break that magical sub 4 hour mark. 

Although in my second marathon I managed to smash my PB by 16 minutes to a time of 4.10 the elusive 4 hour barrier was not to be beaten. The main reason for this however is not my fault as the first and third marathons in my challenge were incredibly demanding off road trail marathons which are the type of events that are PB black holes. If all three marathons had been on nice flat roads and if I had performed in the same way I think I would have been pretty confident of running a sub 4 hour marathon as I improved my training and continued to get stronger and gain a better understanding of the marathon distance. 

Performance wise my marathon running over the three marathons definitely improved, in comparison to the other two marathons I had ran prior to this challenge I feel my third marathon of this sequence represented my best running performance of any marathon I have ran.

So what now?

Well I have rested and reflected and I am now itching to keep running to maintain my current fitness levels as well as working on getting even stronger and fitter.

I plan on working on my strength and speed work over the winter, I plan on becoming very accustomed with my new training partners Mr Lunge, Mr Squat and My Burpee. 

I haven't entered any races as yet and am eagerly planning what events to enter throughout 2015. I hope to manage o fit in at least three marathons along with a couple of half marathons as well as maybe venturing into the world of ultras and longer events.

First stop is going to be a 10K in January so I can put my winters strength and conditioning work to the test.

Watch this space for more running challenges and adventures on the horizon! 

Spitfire Scramble in summary

This weekend I took part in Spitfire scramble a 24 hour team relay event held in my local country park.

After 24 hours of running I could write pages and pages on my experiences so thought instead I would condense my race report into a short and concise breakdown as follows:

Cereal, Coffee, 2 mile bike to course, Flap jack, Banana, Ran Lap 1, 2 mile bike home, Mars bar, Protein shake, Ice bath, Walk to town to do shopping, Peanut butter wrap and Orange juice, Coffee, 2 mile bike back to course, Water, Energy drink, 2 jaffa cakes, Energy drink, Shit i need to run! 2nd lap, Much needed pee! Water lots of water, 2 jaffacakes, More water, Energy drink, 2 miles bike home, Ice bath, Stretch, Home made burritos for dinner, Water, Rest, Coffee, 2 miles bike back to course, Banana, 3rd lap Run,Water, 2 miles bike home, Protein shake, Stretch, 2 hours sleep, Get up at a ridiculous hour! Handful of shreddies, Coffee, 2 miles bike back to course, Jaffa cakes, Realise i have forgotten my energy drink! Warm up, 4th lap, Water,Crazy decision to run another lap, Water, Jaffa cakes, Warm up, Run another lap! Water, Lose bag, Eventually find bag, Water, Jaffa cakes, 2 miles bike home, Water, Orange juice and bacon sandwich, Shower, Stretch, 20 min power nap, Up and dressed and head out back, Tube and bus, Water, Energy drink, Run 6th lap, Water, Jaffa cakes, Stretch, chillout, Relax, no more running! Water, Wrap, Mars bar, Juice,Come home, Sleep, Football, crisps and beer! Chillout!

My running times and official times were:

12.45 1st lap - 43.13

16.45 2nd lap - 43.45

22.50 3rd lap - 52.44

04.00 approx 4th lap - 59.39

06.00 approx 5th lap - 58.45 

10.40 6th lap - 53.39

Overall I covered 6 laps, 58km/36miles in 5 hours 11.

What do you do with your medals?

A question you see banded around running communities and forums fairly regularly on social media.

Until recently it was a question I had struggled with, but then I found out that specialised medal holders are an actual thing! 

So last week I ordered one for myself and I am now the proud owner of a medal holder to proudly display all my hard earned medals!

I ordered my medal holder from runningmemories.com and they offer a full range of customisible options. I didn't have anything obvious that I wanted to have as the wording so I opted for the title of my running blog.

I am really pleased with how it looks and I am very happy I now have somewhere to proudly display my medals to fully celebrate my running achievements.