81 days to go - Steady Eddie

Route #11 Duration : 43 min 9 sec Energy : 532 KCal Distance : 5.3 miles Max HR : 150 Bpm Av HR : 142 Bpm Mile pace : 08:08 min/mile Mission statement :- 5 miles in around 43 mins (steady pace approx. 8:35 min/mile) Well, at least I am consistent, yet again I have managed to run too fast! I started out way too quick and by the time I realised I was into the swing of things and found it hard to slow down. Apart from the fact that my HR and pace appears to be too hot it felt like a "steady" run and I found it quite easy. I must be getting fitter! My hip was a little stiff, but I am hoping tomorrow's rest day and Friday's recovery run will settle it down for good.

82 days to go - Red shoe debut

Route #15 Duration : 59 min 48 sec Energy : 640 KCal Distance : 6.6 miles Max HR : 137 Bpm Av HR : 130 Bpm Mile pace : 09:03 min/mile Mission statement :- 6 miles in approx 57 mins (slow - 9:30 min/mile) The debut for the second pair of Gel Nimbus VIII's went off with no foot alarms which was good. As you can see I slightly over performed in terms of pace although my heart rate was solidly in the conversion zone. I will have to set my target HR zone a little lower for slow runs in future, say 120 - 130 rather than the 125 - 135 I used today. The run itself did feel nice and easy, although worryingly my hip was a little stiff by the end.

83 days to go - Fartlek and more new shoes

Route #15 Duration : 1 hr 2 min 7 sec Energy : 735 KCal Distance : 6.6 miles Max HR : 173 Bpm Av HR : 138 Bpm Mile pace : 09:24 min/mile Mission statement :- 1M jog, then 4M or 35 mins fartlek, then 1M jog Oh the joys of fartlek, I do not know why but it seems so much fun ... I'll sprint a bit, I'll jog a bit, I'll pace to that tree etc., anyway it felt good and as you can see, the smokey cat thinks it is a good idea too! I bought a second pair of trainers today, the same as the last pair except for the color. Bizarrely enough, this week's pair (red) are cheaper than last weeks pair (blue) on the grounds that the blue is the latest colour.

84 days to go - Sofa Day - Hooray!

A rest day today, and I had a very lazy one - it was great! We went out for a very pleasant dinner with the Boingles at "Off The Square" last night, got back late and got up late. I am quite pleased with the weeks training, things have gone well, I am feeling full of energy and I am pretty sure my hip is on the mend. I have only done a modest distance this week but it was good quality and I also had a swim. My weekly totals are as follows :- Total Duration : 4 hrs 40 min 4 sec Total Energy : 3269 Total mileage : 31.70 Av HR : 137 Bpm Av Mile pace : 08:50 min/mile Av m/heartbeat : 1.32 m Av KCal/mile :103 KCal Av KCal /min : 12 Kcal

85 Days to go - 10k Challenge

Route #17 Duration : 1 hr 9 min 17 sec Energy : 900 Kcal Distance : 8.35 miles Max HR : 167 Bpm Av HR : 145 Bpm Mile Pace : 08:17 min/mile Mission statement :- 1M jog followed by 10K at racing speed (Aim for sub-47:00) then 1M jog. I was quite apprehensive about today's run for two reasons. Firstly I had been feeling a little discomfort in my hips overnight and secondly, I was not sure I could get the standard specified. As it happens the latest issue of "Runners World" arrived today so I had some inspiring reading before I set off, including an article about the benefits of caffeine when going for performance and details of a stretch for tight hip-flexors. So I downed a pot of coffee, stretched out my hips and scoffed some jelly babies (with 400mg of ibuprofen on the side for good measure) before I set off. Things went really well, my pace for the 10K came in at 46:24 (07:25/mile), my hips were no trouble at all and the weather was gorgeous! All in all I am pretty pleased with myself, feeling great and looking forward to dinner with the Boingles tonight and a nice rest day tomorrow.

86 days to go - Aygo Aygo Aygo

Route #4 Duration : 43 min 04 sec Energy : 449 Kcal Distance : 4.75 miles Max HR : 135 Bpm Av HR : 128 Bpm Mile Pace : 09:04 min/mile Today's mission was 4 miles in approx 40 min (easy pace). I selected route 4 as the nearest to the 4 miles specified and set out at an easy pace aiming for the recommended 10 min/mile (conversion) pace. I was very surprised to see the miles tick off at around 9 min at such a low HR, so much so in fact I have re-surveyed the route and although it is short of the 4.9 miles I had it rated at it is a full 4.75 miles. Oh well, I must be getting fitter - bring on tomorrow's 10k. BTW I picked up my new car today - sweet!

87 days to go - Jog Run Jog !

Route #11 Duration : 46 min 11 sec Energy : 532 KCal Distance : 5.3 miles Max HR : 159 Bpm Av HR : 136 Bpm Mile pace : 08:42 min/mile The program for today called for a 1 mile jog, then a 3 mile run in about 25 mins (brisk) followed by a further 1 mile jog. I did the middle 3 miles in 22:40 which was a little faster than proscribed but felt easy enough. The weather was fantastic, sunny, still and crisp and I really enjoyed the run. Unfortunately, I am still feeling my left hip and I have another blister on the arch of my right foot, still what would I write about if everything was perfect! I must say that the reduced mileage of the last couple of weeks has recharged my batteries and I am feeling full of energy, I am trusting the author of the training schedule and resisting the urge to do more miles.

88 days to go - Conversion run in the sun

Route #16 Duration : 1 hr 16 min 12 sec Energy : 819 KCal Distance : 8.0 miles Max HR : 141 Bpm Av HR : 131 Bpm Mile pace : 09:31 min/mile My new training schedule called for an 8 mile run in 80 min (Easy/conversion pace) today and as you can see I was a little faster than I should have been, but my HR was solidly in the conversion zone, in fact the calorie counter estimated that 50% of today's energy expenditure was fat burning, so I reckon that is mission accomplished. My left hip started to hurt a little after an hour or so, but I am hopeful that it is slowly getting better. The weather was fantastically bright and sunny for most of the run, with only a brief shower towards the end. It is quite a relief to have some proper winter weather at last, I quite like the look of the winter countryside in the sun. approx 80 mins easy

89 days to go - More intervals in the sunshine

Route #11 Duration : 45 min 20 sec Energy : 569 KCal Distance : 5.3 miles Max HR : 170 Bpm Av HR : 142 Bpm Mile pace : 08:33 miles/min Speed exercise day in the schedule. The specification for today's run was a 1 mile jog, then 5 reps of 800m/4 mins , with 2-min/200m jog recoveries, then a 1 mile jog. I ended up doing more than the proscribed 800m in most of the 4 min reps so that the final jog was nearer half a mile than 1 mile and the distance a little longer than specified. What can I say, I am feeling fit and strong! I am still feeling a little discomfort in the left hip, but I believe it is on the mend. The new shoes felt good and caused no problems so I suppose I will need to buy another pair the same!

90 days to go - A swim and new shoes

A cross training day today, 1 mile in the pool, before I switch to the "Runner's World" training program tomorrow. I really enjoyed the swim, it has been a while since I had been in the pool and I had forgotten how good it makes you feel. I bought some new trainers today, Asics Gel Nimbus VIII's. These are the updated version of the shoes I have been training in so far. My existing shoes have done more than the recommended 500 miles so they need replacing. If the new shoes turn out to be as good as the old ones I will get a second pair so that I can alternate the shoes and have a perfectly broken in pair for the race itself. I have studied the new training schedule closely and it seems I have been doing too much to date which probably explains why I have had a few problems lately. I am going to have to modify the schedule slightly to incorporate our trip to Colorado and switch the Monday rest day to Sunday so that I can get to see Glammy on her day off!

91 days to go - Back on the pace

Route #15 Duration : 51 min 0 sec Energy : 745 KCal Distance : 6.6 Miles Max HR : 165 Bpm Av HR : 156 Bpm Mile pace : 07:43 min/mile I was much happier with my performance today, I just set off and ran and although my HR data shows I was in the "tough" zone I felt really good all the way and full of energy at the end and I passed the 10k mark in 48 min which is a PB. This is the first run this week where my patented metre/heartbeat factor has shown a reasonable level (1.33 as against 1.23ish for the rest of the week). All in all I feel that I deserved my decadent Sunday lunch at the Low House with Glammy, the Gods, Bobbie and David. So this has been quite a slack week, what with the hip injury and other commitments limiting my training time. Probably not a bad thing after the two previous weeks. The weekly figures are as follows :- Duration : 4 hrs 58 min 45 sec Energy : 3784 KCal Distance : 33.5 miles Av HR : 144 Bpm Mile pace : 08:55 min/mile. As you can see, I have included images of two of my favourite pieces of equipment - arnica gel and Lucozade sports drink. I wonder if I can get paid for the endorsement?

92 days to go - Back on the road.

Route #9 Duration : 1 hr 0 min 52 sec Energy : 799 KCal Distance : 7.0 miles Max HR : 158 Bpm Av HR : 148 Bpm Mile pace : 08:41 min/mile It was good to get out on the road again today although I was quite surprised that my HR was as high as it was for the pace I achieved. I am not going to worry about it as I found the going quite easy in any case. I am still getting a twinge from my hip after 40 min or so, I hope it does not turn out to be a long term problem. I am planning to break my normal routine and run again tomorrow, weather permitting, so I can catch up some of the training I missed earlier in the week. I am then planning to model the rest of my training on the "Runners World" sub 3:45 program starting next week.

93 days to go - Mercy dash

As expected I did not have time to train today because it was too late to run once I got back from London with Mum. No bad thing, as it gives my hip a bit more time to recover.

94 days to go - And the wind did blow!

An unplanned non training day today! The weather was awful, really windy, which made running less than appealing and I still have a bit of pain in my hip, so I decided today was rest day. A good job really as I had to travel up to London today so I can pick Mum up from the airport tomorrow. The wind really caused some major disruptions with trees and trucks blowing over everywhere. The weather disrupted the railways as well and it took me 5 hours to get to Finchley on the train! I expect that I will struggle to find time to train tomorrow because I will be on the train or the M25 most of the day.

Gibbo reaches the big four O and makes a donation

Many happy returns to Gibbo, remember, life begins at 40! A big thank you for your sponsorship.

95 days to go - Interval session

Route #15 Duration : 1 hr 1min 58 sec Energy : 746 KCal Distance : 6.60 Max HR : 163 Bpm Av HR : 139 Bpm Mile pace : 09:23 min/mile I was relieved to be running at all today after yesterday's debacle. In order to get the maximum training with minimum stress to my sore hip I settled on an interval session today. This consisted of jogging 1 mile then doing 4 reps of 7 min miles with a 3 min recovery in between followed by a further 1 mile jog. The first two fast miles were pretty easy, I surprised myself that I could actually do 1 mile in 7 min, the second two however were a bit tougher. My hip was sore again by the end of the session but not as bad as yesterday and recovered pretty quickly once I got home.

96 days to go - A bit of a setback

Route #14 (partial) Duration : 2 hrs 4 min 55 sec Energy : 1494 KCal Distance : 13.3 miles (of 15.8) Max HR : 149 Bpm Av HR : 139 Bpm Mile pace : 09:23 min/mile Even though the weather was wet and I had an unsettled night, I set off on my first 15 mile run full of confidence. The plan was to do the run at a steady pace of around 9 min per mile while keeping my HR below 140 Bpm. Things went pretty well for the first 11 or so miles but suddenly my pace fell off dramatically and my left hip/buttock started to hurt like mad. At the 13.2 mile mark I could no longer run at all and I had to stop. After a stretching session I managed to walk home without too much further pain. Once I got home I applied ice to my butt, took 400mg of ibuprofen and had a long hot shower. These measures appear to have seen off the pain and I am relatively sure that I am not seriously injured, in fact I have convinced myself that the problem was probably just cramp, possibly payback for a decadent weekend. I will see how things feel in the morning and decide then what and when my next session should be. On the bright side, I passed my 300th training mile before things went wrong!

97 days to go - Cross training day.

Needless to say lunch at the God's stretched out a little later than is conventional, we finally made it home at 2am, which goes a long way to explaining my failure to make it to the pool for early-risers - no swimming today! I did manage to spend an hour in the Cheeseroom doing weights and a session on my health rider, whilst watching the Da Vinci Code, the exercise was gentle and the movie lived up to it's reviews - cr4p! My aches and pains seem to have disappeared so I am planning to go for a 15 miler tomorrow. I am sad to report that things have not been going too well for other members of the family, Mum has had a skiing accident and damaged her knee while Robbie has managed to break his wrist in the skate park. As these things tend to come in threes, I hope that does not mean that I am heading for an injury.

98 days to go - Boingled and resting

A welcome day off, especially as we got well and truly "Boingled" last night, I think it was after 3am by the time we got home! I am pleased to say that my hip and ankle are very much better today but I have definitely decided not to run tomorrow to be on the safe side. I will have to make do with some form of cross-training, hopefully swimming, to satisfy any exercise cravings I experience. For the record my weekly figures are as follows:- Duration : 6 hrs 29 min 39 sec Energy : 4497 KCal Distance : 43.20 miles Av HR : 136 Bpm Av mile pace : 09:01 min/mile Right we are off to the God's for lunch so I'll see you all next week.

99 days to go - The vest arrives

Route #7 Duration : 39 min 21 sec Energy : 327 KCal Distance : 3.5 miles Max HR : 122 Bpm Av HR : 113 Bpm Mile pace : 11:14 min/mile

The main excitement for today was the arrival of my runners sponsorship pack from Cancer Research UK. This contained lots of goodies including my official running vest - shown to the right.

The running today was a gentle recovery run to wind down the week. I have to admit that I may have been overdoing it the last couple of weeks - 11 runs in 13 days covering the best part of 90 miles - and my body is beginning to complain. They say that stiffness is an injury waiting to happen and I have to report a stiff left hip and right ankle so I am looking forward to a rest day tomorrow and I may well do some form of cross training on Monday, probably swimming, rather than a run unless my aches and pains are completely better. As always the gentle run relived most of the stiffness but I would be a liar if I said I was completely pain free.

100 days to go - A second long run

Route#12 Duration : 2 hrs 0 min 47 sec Energy : 1518 KCal Distance : 13.9 miles Max HR : 155 Bpm Av HR : 144 Bpm Mile pace : 08:41 min/mile

Boy was it windy today, at times it seemed that I was running flat out to stay still when the wind was against me! I needed all the Jelly baby power I could get. Considering the conditions and the fact that this was my second long run of the week I was relatively happy with the way things went. I think I will be able to crack the 15 mile mark next week.

I put "Odour Eaters" under my insoles for the run today and I am pleased to say that the extra cushioning greatly improved the comfort factor and I think I may be over the blister problem.

101 days to go - A well earned rest

A scheduled day off today, working on the theory that I am better off doing fewer longer runs. On a completely non running related matter, I had a test drive in a Toyota Aygo today and was very impressed. I think I may need to get one!

102 days to go - Grinding out another seven

Route #9 Duration : 1 hr 1 min 10 sec Energy : 748 KCal Distance : 7 miles Max HR : 166 Bpm Av HR : 141 Bpm Mile pace : 08:44 min/mile Fatigue must be setting in, my heart rate was all over the place today and I struggled to keep any sensible pace for the first few miles. Things did settle down for the last two or three miles but I was generally disappointed with my performance even with the jelly power. I ran without the insoles today, just the heel lift, and I am pleased to say that my blisters got no worse.

103 days to go - Recovery Run

Route #4 Duration : 50 min 36 sec Energy : 443 KCal Distance : 4.9 miles Max HR : 124 Bpm Av HR : 116 Bpm Mile pace : 10:19 min/mile A nice gentle low intensity run between the showers. After last week 's experience I have decided that following a long run with a recovery session is a good idea. It is remarkable how these low intensity sessions leave you feeling fresher than when you started. I am still having problems with blisters from the insoles, I may have to leave them out of the shoes for a session or two to let my feet recover.

104 days to go - A new long route

Route #12 Duration : 1 hr 57 min 45 sec Energy : 1461 KCal Distance : 13.9 miles Max HR : 154 Bpm Av HR : 142 Bpm Mile pace : 08:28 min/mile A new route on fresh legs and feeling good. Still windy but at least it was dry. The 48 hr rest really upped my energy levels and I am confident that I will be able to get a longer distance in the near future once I have consolidated the half marathon distance. I have started experimenting with Jelly babies as an on the road energy source, at 20 KCal per jelly baby I recon I can eat one or two every 15 minuets when I drink to give me a little extra energy boost.

105 days to go - More sponsors and a day off

A big thank you to Eddie, Wessie and Ailsa for their generous sponsorship last night, much appreciated guys! As today was rest day I had my first drink of 2007 last night and it tasted good! I really needed a day off to recover from a pretty intensive week. For the record I ran 43.7 miles in 6 hrs 41 min (9 min 11 sec a mile) at an average HR of 137 Bpm. Total training miles to date are 248.6 miles. I have come up with a crude measurement of my fitness, meters per heart beat. This indicator has been improving over the weeks as the graph below illustrates. Although it would appear that I keep taking two steps forward then one step back!

106 days to go - Running in the rain

Route #8 Duration : 1 hr 41 min 48 sec Energy : 1246 KCal Distance : 11.2 miles Max HR : 153 Bpm Av HR : 141 Bpm Mile pace : 09:05 min/mile Although I set out to do a steady run at around 135 Bpm as you can see I struggled to keep my heart rate down while maintaining a reasonable pace so I ended up running to pace rather than HR. This was the 6th day I have run on the trot and sets a new weekly distance record of 43.7 miles. I think that the intensive week coupled with awful weather, it rained throughout the run, contributed to the slightly disappointing performance when compared to Tuesday's half marathon pace/HR.

107 days to go - A fast five

Route #11 Duration : 40 min 33 sec Energy : 599 KCal Distance : 5.3 miles Max HR : 168 Bpm Av HR : 157 Bpm Mile pace : 07:39 min/mile Today's run was a basically a near flat out "tough" session as you can see from the HR levels above. It is a sobering thought that the pace I achieved while running near flat out would still not get me a "good for age" (03:15:00) time in a marathon. It just goes to show the gulf between us mere mortals and the running elite. I am afraid I have to report more orthotic induced foot damage as I now have a new blister on my existing blister. I reckon I will have to leave the foot beds at home for a day or two so that my feet can recover.

108 days to go - More wind than bluster

Route #3 Duration : 39 min 34 sec Energy : 339 KCal Distance : 3.6 miles Max HR : 124 Bpm Av HR : 115 Bpm Mile pace : 10:59 min/mile The sun was out today, but so was the wind . I set off to do a gentle recovery run and I swear just walking into the wind put my HR over the max! Still, it was nice to get out in the fresh air and as usual a gentle run left me feeling energized. The only downer for the day was the massive (insole induced) blister under the ball of my left foot which forced me to leave the insoles behind, even after a liberal application of gaffer tape. I am beginning to think I should go back to Suvanne for some fine tuning.

dbt steps up to the plate

A big thanks to dbt, although I think you should look into the difference between "of" and "off"!

109 days to go - After the Lord Mayor's show.

Route #9 Duration : 1 hr 7 min 0 sec Energy : 813 KCal Distance : 7.0 miles Max HR : 151 Bpm Av HR : 138 Bpm Mile pace : 09:34 min/mile Once I had got a couple of miles into today's run I knew I had bitten off more than I could chew and that a recovery run would have been more appropriate. The effects of yesterday's efforts were still manifest and that shows in today's performance data. The next couple of days will need to be carefully planned so that I can do a second long run for the week on Saturday.

A big thanks to Snaps

Thank you Snaps, very generous! I am afraid that I have not yet got the hang of listening to music while I run, but when I do I will bear your advice in mind.

110 days to go - Much much better

Route #10 Duration : 1 hr 53 min 35 sec Energy : 1473 KCal Distance : 13.1 miles Max HR : 161 Bpm Av HR : 144 Bpm Mile Pace : 08:40 min/mile That's more like it, a half marathon and in a new PB by a phenomenal 12 min! I had aimed to do the run at a slightly lower intensity but I am very happy with the time. The wind was really strong today and the first half of the run was more or less constantly into it. Consequently, my pace in second half of the run, with the wind, was much quicker than in the first half.

111 days to go - Let the recovery begin.

Route #7 Duration : 39 min 15 sec Energy : 324 KCal Distance : 3.5 miles Max HR : 123 Bpm Av HR : 111 Bpm Mile Pace : 11:12 min/mile A nice gentle recovery run in the countryside today to help detox from the last week of excesses. I still felt pretty frazzled in the morning but the run made me feel much better. I am looking forward to a more testing session tomorrow.