Category Archives: Training Updates

Training Updates

Recovery week, looking now to the Grim Original 2012

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A week on from the Snowdonia Marathon and my recovery is going well. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were rest days, the blister that I had gotten on the Marathon limited the amount of movement I could do so most of it was spent hobbling around. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was active recovery (more through necessity than choice) with cycling to and from work. I think getting my legs working again sooner rather than later has helped me a great deal and Saturday was a really good 5.6 mile run at a pace that I was pretty pleased with.

3 miles of uphill and essentially no walking until we reached the top

With the Grim Original 2012 only a few weeks away it was good to get out and do a faster paced run focusing on a shorter distance. I ran with another guy who is doing the race (Kev) and despite the constant uphill our competitiveness meant that although we both wanted to walk on the steeper sections, we didn’t.  The Grim in 2011 had 136 meters of climb over about 8.38 miles (according to Garmin) and yesterday was 222 meters so in terms of hill fitness I am pretty confident that weather permitting I should beat my 01:16:47 of last year.

Grim 2011 Route (Image from Google Earth)

For those of you reading this who may not be aware of the Grim Original Aldershot, below are details taken from their website:

GRIM is held over the Army’s vehicle testing tracks so expect it to be interesting! It’s tough but we know you wouldn’t want it any other way and 6,500 nutters in 2011 are proof of that.

Either enter as an individual or round up some mates and enter as a team of three people in either the women only, men only or mixed team categories.

There are prizes for the top 5 individuals and top three teams.

Entries close when we sell out – and we will so don’t delay.

For some filthy fun, enter now – £30 includes survivors race t-shirt.

We’re sure you are tough enough – see you on the start line!

As of writing it seems there are still places available for the Saturday (1st) and Sunday (2nd) December so if you like a challenge, great atmosphere and are not afraid of getting muddy this could be the race for you.

Link to website: http://www.grimchallenge.co.uk/grim-8/

Last years results

In cycling news, it’s getting pretty cold out there and despite having a  windproof jacket and trousers, one part of my body is getting very cold, my toes.

Despite wearing a sock liner and waterproof seal skin socks I get to work and my toes are numb. With this in mind and not wanting to spend more money on cycling kit (not when it can be redirected to running kit :-)) I have gotten creative and fashioned some windproof toe caps.

It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of duct tape and a bin liner!

Fingers (and toes) crossed this keeps out the pesky wind and keeps my toes toasty.

Training Updates

Training update, the plan for the 100

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My previous post mentioned that I was considering a 100 mile ultra next year, well (assuming all the places don’t go before I can register) I will be doing the NDW100.

With the decision made my focus on training has returned, albeit limited due to the Snowdonia Marathon in a week. With the cycling a firm feature of my week I have to look to ways to incorporate this as part of my ultra training. It’s not ideal, but you have to work with what you got so I am going to make the best of it.

So this week has been the usual fair of 10 mile cycle in 12 mile cycle back Monday to Thursday, with a 9.5 (Garmin missed the first 0.5) mile run in. The run wasn’t to bad even after the 4 days of cycling, with my pace averaging 09:40/mi

OK, so its pretty much downhill all the way

Its not the most taxing of routes, being on the road for the most part and practically all downhill but with the added weight of a full rucksack it is good training. My plan, following the recovery from Snowdonia is to incorporate running to work maybe twice a week, to work and back. I won’t start straight away with the 20 miles per day, building up to the full 10 miles on the way back by getting the train initially and getting off before home (not being near any stations I am always going to have a small run at the end)

I am hoping to keep the “long” weekend runs to a minimum as I want to keep this time to spend with the family, building these into the training as probably once every 3-4 weeks, starting out with a 20 miler and increasing it from there. Its going to be interesting to see how it works out and I am sure my plan will be modified here and there.

In other news, the latest edition of Ultra Tales is out, with contributions from many ultra runners, me included. This is a free e-magazine featuring contributions from many runners and I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in ultra running, being newbies or seasoned runners, with just under 250 pages it is a great read.

The links to the download are (Box) http://bit.ly/RLhLgc  (GoogleDrive) http://bit.ly/WL6Yr2  (SkyDrive) http://sdrv.ms/Vd6Soy (links courtesy of ultratales)

For more information, follow @ultratales on twitter or Facebook to support this magazine and keep up to date on upcoming issues and how to contribute.

Training Updates

Training update: 01/10/2012 – 14/10/2012

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Posting has been a bit sporadic recently, but with the Snowdonia Marathon fast approaching my training is somewhat different to what I was doing in the run up to the NDW50. This is mainly due to the commute on the bike every day causing me to have limited time for running, as well as tired legs.

So what have I been up to over the last couple of weeks, well week commencing 01/10/2012  I managed to incorporate my running into my commute and ran the 10 miles to work on the Tuesday and Friday, getting a lift home on the Tuesday and Taxi (following a night out) on the Friday, with cycling to and from work the other days. While my running strategy is still using the run/walk method that I adopted on the Ultra, my average min per mile was under 10 mins both days so I am pretty pleased with how I am pacing.

The running was on the roads, opposed to my usual trails, which I am guessing added to the increase in pace, however this was counteracted my the weight of the OMM 25 litre pack containing my suit etc. for work.

This week the only day I managed to get a run in was 6 miles today and despite the lack of running in between I don’t feel as if I have lost much in the way of running fitness, it’s almost the opposite in fact as the run today felt pretty good and for a trail run that consisted of practically 3 miles up and then 3 miles down my pacing was on the quicker side, averaging at 09:12/mi which if I can maintain on the Snowdonia Marathon I would be laughing.

I think that incorporating the cycling has had the benefit of strengthening my leg muscles to enable me to maintain a harder effort for longer, while giving me some added power on the up hills. The only downside (other than not having the time to run as much, and the fact that I had cycling on roads!) is that I seem to be overcooking myself on the effort, going at a fast pace which I cannot maintain and having to slow down to a walk, before recovering and going at a too quick pace. Given that the run today did have walking in it at points gives an idea of what the average pace was when I wasn’t walking, which is just too quick for me to maintain at the moment.

With 12 days until Snowdonia I have little time to rein in my pace and get it to something more manageable in time for the marathon. I think I will be able to adjust in time, I have a week off work before so no cycling for that week and some short runs will help.

 

 

 

 

Training Updates

Im Back!!

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So its been a while since my last post and I would like to say I have been doing lots of running but unfortunately that’s not the case. The last post before my break, I mentioned that I had a niggle on the left foot and to date it is still causing some issues, it has improved a great deal but is not what I would call ‘healed’.

That said I think I am now in a position to start running properly again and begin to build the mileage back up, which is lucky as I have a marathon to run in just under 5 weeks. I have been lucky to an extent as, following a recent move I now cycle a round trip of 22 miles a day to and from work, which has helped keep my fitness up while keeping the impact low on my legs. With all the cycling though, I have realised how much I enjoy running and the freedom it brings, cycling along busy main roads brings me now pleasure and I have been itching to get back out the trails, which I managed to do this weekend.

With my move I am now a stones through away from the North Downs Way,which I could have done with a year ago! As the running has been limited this weekend was the first exploration of the local trails and how I could factor the NDW into my training regime. Obviously with a 100mile+ commute I am focusing on the weekends to get my running in and moving forward this will be a regular thing, building up the distance again as I am planning on doing the NDW50 again next year, with some other marathons and shorter ultra’s in-between.

Saturdays run then, starting out about midday the weather was lovely and it felt a perfect day for a run. I had an idea of the route I would be taking, map in hand I headed off:

Not a bad start to a run, after about 500 yards of road I am on the trails!
After 3 weeks of roads and cars, a quiet trail is the best place to get back that sense of calm
A familiar sight, those sign posts mark one of the greatest trails in the south.
The views from Gravelly Hill, Caterham
Another photo which sums up why we run trails

So a pretty scenic run throughout, one thing that happened requires special mention. Following the map I had gone onto what appeared to be a fairly unused public footpath, enjoying myself and not paying too much attention I approached the next style, when I looked up I was presented with the below and practically jumped out my skin.

No way getting through, and that one in the middle poking his head up is a big bad Bull! No way I was going to mess with them and no way around, time to turn back and find another way.

So a total distance of about 7 miles, the longest run in 3 weeks. I did manage another run the week before, my brother recently got married in Warsaw, Poland, so as we were over there I took my running kit and went for a 4mile run to see some of the sights, a great way to see the city.

Lastly:

Spot the river, spent ages trying to find a way across.

 

 

 

 

Training Updates

Training this week: 20/08/2012 – 26/08/2012

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Not a lot to report this week, following last weekends run I decided to drop back on the mileage and allow myself some more time to recover, I had planned to run Tuesday and Thursday and get a long run in on the Saturday (I say long but it would have been no more than 8 miles). My left foot seems to have had other ideas.

Following a 5 mile run on Tuesday I noticed that I was getting an ache on around the outside of my forefoot, around the area of my fourth toe. This pain hadn’t gone by Wednesday and seemed to get worse if I was standing around on it. This caused me to rethink my plans for the week and I took the decision to rest completely for the week to see if it sorts itself out. As of typing it’s still not right but doesn’t seem to be as bad. The whole resting thing is deeply frustrating, as all you end up thinking about is the training days that you’re missing out on!

In other news, I am moving to another flat which is about 10 miles from my work so have decided to cycle in and have gone and got myself a new road bike, which could be a blessing as the low impact of cycling could be just what I need to keep my fitness up and recover from this apparent injury.

I probably won’t be updating my blog for a couple of weeks as I need to get moved and get the Internet sorted out in the new place, so by the time I do my next update hopefully I will have gotten over this injury and be back up and running again!