First of all apologies, it's been a very long time since I last posted. The injuries and recovery put me off blogging, I kind of thought no one wants to hear me whinge about my injuries!
So I'm back running properly, all injuries are gone, mostly down to hard work, some physio and the jantastic campaign from marathontalk.com!
A slow approach to getting fit again from January 1st has led me to a 10k time of 49:44 at the St Helens 10k, which totally blew away my prediction of 58 minutes. Since then my training has gone superbly.
My next goals are to run the Hawkshead trail on 28th April, then the great trail challenge at Keswick in June. Assuming all this goes well I will run the Kielder marathon! Hopefully this will progress me to doing a spring marathon and the Lakeland 50 in 2013.
Tuesday 3 April 2012
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Reading
I've just started reading a book called racing weight, the intro is good so far. I'm hoping it can help me shift around 10 to 14 pounds which I've tried for the best part of a year to shift without success!
I've also got born to run lined up next..
I've also got born to run lined up next..
Training update
It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I'm currently in a rest week to let my back and hip settle. A five mile run last Monday was a bit too much at this stage.
The stretching is going well, I'm certainly getting more supple. I'm also doing the 100 press ups iPhone app and 200 sit ups app, they are both helping with core strength early in a morning. It's been a month now of getting up at 6am and stretching and doing the exercise and it's starting to pay off. My leg is feeling much better and the back pain has almost gone.
I bought a new exercise bike at the weekend to help with the leg and back and it's had an instant effect! Don't know why I left it do long since my old one broke..
I'm considering going a 2 mile easy tonight to see how things are progressing..
Bye for now
The stretching is going well, I'm certainly getting more supple. I'm also doing the 100 press ups iPhone app and 200 sit ups app, they are both helping with core strength early in a morning. It's been a month now of getting up at 6am and stretching and doing the exercise and it's starting to pay off. My leg is feeling much better and the back pain has almost gone.
I bought a new exercise bike at the weekend to help with the leg and back and it's had an instant effect! Don't know why I left it do long since my old one broke..
I'm considering going a 2 mile easy tonight to see how things are progressing..
Bye for now
Monday 7 November 2011
Getting better
Managed to get in 3 runs last week. 20 mins on Monday, 25 mins on Wednesday, and 30 mins yesterday. Not all pain free, but progressively better on each run.
Yesterdays run was 3.1m @ 9:50 pace avg hr 61%
Last week I also started a new regime of stretching and core strength. I've started to get up at 6am, stretch well and do press ups and sit ups on alternate days. I will progress this as time moves on. I think this is having a massive impact on my back and right hip.
Hope this weeks running goes well!
Laters
Yesterdays run was 3.1m @ 9:50 pace avg hr 61%
Last week I also started a new regime of stretching and core strength. I've started to get up at 6am, stretch well and do press ups and sit ups on alternate days. I will progress this as time moves on. I think this is having a massive impact on my back and right hip.
Hope this weeks running goes well!
Laters
Monday 31 October 2011
Back on the road
First run in two weeks! It felt awesome to be back running!!
Had a slight twinge in right ham after a mile, hopefully more physio and stretching will help it.
2.21 miles in 20:21
The next few weeks will be a softly softly approach until I can run pain free.
Had a slight twinge in right ham after a mile, hopefully more physio and stretching will help it.
2.21 miles in 20:21
The next few weeks will be a softly softly approach until I can run pain free.
Friday 21 October 2011
Two weeks off!
I haven't run since Sunday, today is Friday, I hate not running, but I now realise that I need to sort this leg pain, which grown into back pain.
I had acupuncture at the physio on Wednesday, that went well, no leg pain to speak of, but my lower back was very sore. I have another appointment today, hopefully things are starting to get better.
I'll be in Cumbria for a weeks holiday next week, so do I run off road because I can't be in Cumbria and not run! Or do I take the physio's advice and not run for two weeks.. ?
I think I'll run off road for a short distance and see how it feels.. :)
On my to do list next week is get some pool time in, firstly I'll need a bit of coaching I think to work on my technique, should be ok then.
I also need to find a core strength training plan that I can stick too!
I had acupuncture at the physio on Wednesday, that went well, no leg pain to speak of, but my lower back was very sore. I have another appointment today, hopefully things are starting to get better.
I'll be in Cumbria for a weeks holiday next week, so do I run off road because I can't be in Cumbria and not run! Or do I take the physio's advice and not run for two weeks.. ?
I think I'll run off road for a short distance and see how it feels.. :)
On my to do list next week is get some pool time in, firstly I'll need a bit of coaching I think to work on my technique, should be ok then.
I also need to find a core strength training plan that I can stick too!
Sunday 16 October 2011
5 year plan cont..
My running is not going too great this week, after being in London and having this ITB problem. The physio sessions seem to be working, and I'm going to arrange a sports massage next week. Hopefully then I will be able to train properly whilst I'm on holiday at half term. I managed a 3 miler today and felt terrible, I actually struggled a lot, the first time that's happened to me really.
So back to the five year plan. Firstly I would like to run most distances including 5k, 10k etc. I also want a sub 4 hour marathon. Once I have achieved this I want to gain some consistency at marathon distance. Probably run a spring and an autumn. I would then like to build on this with some key marathons, like New York, London, Amsterdam. I think comrades will be on the agenda at some point. But my main goal is the Lakeland 100, I will build to this by doing the lakeland 50.
So from a running perspective...
Year 1; gain PBs at 5k and 10k, run two marathons, get a sub 4 hour PB. There will be half marathons in this, including potentially Conistan half. Depending on how this goes I may attempt a trail marathon in the summer.
Year 2; build towards longer distance, and potentially the Lakeland 50
Year 3; definitely lakeland 50
Year 4; longer distance and build to Lakeland 100
Year 5; definitley run Lakeland 100
This is a base plan and is open to change...
Other goals are also in place starting with working on my swimming technique and do more pool work. Also going to buy an exercise bike to work on stamina and leg strength. I also need to work more on my core strength to achieve these goals.
So back to the five year plan. Firstly I would like to run most distances including 5k, 10k etc. I also want a sub 4 hour marathon. Once I have achieved this I want to gain some consistency at marathon distance. Probably run a spring and an autumn. I would then like to build on this with some key marathons, like New York, London, Amsterdam. I think comrades will be on the agenda at some point. But my main goal is the Lakeland 100, I will build to this by doing the lakeland 50.
So from a running perspective...
Year 1; gain PBs at 5k and 10k, run two marathons, get a sub 4 hour PB. There will be half marathons in this, including potentially Conistan half. Depending on how this goes I may attempt a trail marathon in the summer.
Year 2; build towards longer distance, and potentially the Lakeland 50
Year 3; definitely lakeland 50
Year 4; longer distance and build to Lakeland 100
Year 5; definitley run Lakeland 100
This is a base plan and is open to change...
Other goals are also in place starting with working on my swimming technique and do more pool work. Also going to buy an exercise bike to work on stamina and leg strength. I also need to work more on my core strength to achieve these goals.
Thursday 13 October 2011
5 year plan..
I'm currently sat on a train to London, had physio on my back last night to clear up the hip problem in my right leg, it went well, but I was disappointed she didn't do acupuncture like she said.
Anyway I've been thinking about this plan.. In my head I have a long term goal of running the Lakeland 100, now that is a huge leap in fitness to what I am now. Furthermore, I'd like to do it in a decent manner, not just complete it but compete on it..
So item 1; run the Lakeland 100 by the summer of 2017
More immediate goals spring to mind, for instance I want to run a couple of marathons next year, both road and trail.
Item 2; run a road marathon in the spring
Item 3; run a trail marathon in late summer
Item 4; run the Liverpool half marathon in 1:50 or less
Item 5; run a trail race or trail half marathon in late spring early summer
A few quick thoughts popped into my head there, there are others, such as run a 10k and 5k etc not sure they count as goals though..
There are other things that are things I'd like to achieve, more to follow soon..
S
Anyway I've been thinking about this plan.. In my head I have a long term goal of running the Lakeland 100, now that is a huge leap in fitness to what I am now. Furthermore, I'd like to do it in a decent manner, not just complete it but compete on it..
So item 1; run the Lakeland 100 by the summer of 2017
More immediate goals spring to mind, for instance I want to run a couple of marathons next year, both road and trail.
Item 2; run a road marathon in the spring
Item 3; run a trail marathon in late summer
Item 4; run the Liverpool half marathon in 1:50 or less
Item 5; run a trail race or trail half marathon in late spring early summer
A few quick thoughts popped into my head there, there are others, such as run a 10k and 5k etc not sure they count as goals though..
There are other things that are things I'd like to achieve, more to follow soon..
S
Monday 10 October 2011
Why a running blog?
I've been thinking about starting a blog about my running journey for a while now, so now I've finally got round to it! I discovered running about five years ago, well I say discovered, I mean introduced. I was working at the university of central lancs at the time when a colleague, Ron Bray suggested I try running and gave me some advice to get started. By all accounts Ron was an accomplished Fell runner although he never spoke about it much.
I then dipped in and out of running over the years and finally got to a level to race. I ran the Liverpool half in 2008 (2:08) and the the Blackpool marathon (4:36) I then stopped and started for another year, this finally ended we me gaining a lot of weight and getting injured! I finally undertook some physio on a persistent knee injury and started to seriously run again in October of 2010.
Since then I have managed to stay consistent with my training, currently I've run 500 miles and counting so far this year! I trained for the Liverpool half marathon and got under 2 hours, just.. With a time of 1:59:59! After that I had a solid summer of training, and would have run the Hawkshead trail race my car had packed up! But, during the training for this event the bug for trail running began to take hold and I entered the St Helens Dream Trail race. An 8k trail race in my home town, not quite Hawkeshead, but it was still a good event. I finished with a time of 45:35, which I was quite pleased with considering I had some shin splints and a bit of PF 3 weeks before.
That kind of brings things up to date and to the reason for beginning this blog. I recently discovered the Marathon talk podcast and really enjoy it. One of the episodes talked about having a 5 year plan, so that is what I will do on here. I am a goal driven person and have discovered that setting goals with running helps me maintain focus on training and other things, like work etc. So first up I will set a five year plan, with this in place I will analyse how I am going to achieve it!
I then dipped in and out of running over the years and finally got to a level to race. I ran the Liverpool half in 2008 (2:08) and the the Blackpool marathon (4:36) I then stopped and started for another year, this finally ended we me gaining a lot of weight and getting injured! I finally undertook some physio on a persistent knee injury and started to seriously run again in October of 2010.
Since then I have managed to stay consistent with my training, currently I've run 500 miles and counting so far this year! I trained for the Liverpool half marathon and got under 2 hours, just.. With a time of 1:59:59! After that I had a solid summer of training, and would have run the Hawkshead trail race my car had packed up! But, during the training for this event the bug for trail running began to take hold and I entered the St Helens Dream Trail race. An 8k trail race in my home town, not quite Hawkeshead, but it was still a good event. I finished with a time of 45:35, which I was quite pleased with considering I had some shin splints and a bit of PF 3 weeks before.
That kind of brings things up to date and to the reason for beginning this blog. I recently discovered the Marathon talk podcast and really enjoy it. One of the episodes talked about having a 5 year plan, so that is what I will do on here. I am a goal driven person and have discovered that setting goals with running helps me maintain focus on training and other things, like work etc. So first up I will set a five year plan, with this in place I will analyse how I am going to achieve it!
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