Better Than Life

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

2011-09-20T15:31:00.001+01:00

Has it really been TEN WEEKS since I last updated this? I blame Fairport's Cropredy Convention.

After week 19:

-23.2 lbs
-5.8% body fat
-11% body weight

Starting: 15st 0.8 lbs (210.8 lbs) / 25.1%
Currently: 13st 5.6 lbs (187.6 lbs) / 19.3%

Well the rest of the summer has been and gone, and the fast early losses have plateaued out. That's to be expected, especially given the calorie holidays I've taken during this period!

Average weight loss rate has reduced to under 1¼lb per week. Since I'm now well within "healthy", I've reduced my rate of loss to 1lb per week. This means I can eat well every day, whether I run or not, and not get light-headed and exhausted. I'm going to increase my protein intake, to help recovery between sessions.

The running is going ok, although I think the intervals and faster stuff has been taking its toll. I've changed plan from the Hal Higdon Intermediate Half Marathon plan ahead of Barns Green, to something a little closer to his beginners' plan. The idea is to keep running at low intensity, with only "race pace" runs to be harder work.

Managed to do my first race for about a year on Saturday, and few seconds faster than last year! Knee was agony for rest of the weekend, and I couldn't run until today. This is the reason for cutting back the training a little.

No weights for a few weeks: I need to get this back into the routine. The problem remains when to fit it in. Mornings are hopeless for weights, and evenings are becoming busier.

Goals for this week:

1. Stay within WLR Calories.
2. Race Pace run at 7m25s pace or faster.
3. All steady-state runs at >90 rpm average. [Failed this today, sadly]

Tightening the Belt

2011-07-11T16:20:00.000+01:00

After week 9:

-17.4 lbs
-4.6% body fat
-8% body weight

Starting: 15st 0.8 lbs (210.8 lbs) / 25.1%
Currently: 13st 11.4 lbs (193.4 lbs) / 20.5%

Completed the WLR Holiday Challenge +2 weeks. Going to keep going through to the end of July.

Another week with just one pound lost, but given that Saturday/Tuesday had big meals out, most of the week was spent playing catch-up anyway! Not too disappointed: I'm lighter than the lowest weight from the previous week and a pound down net.

Average weight loss rate has reduced to under 2lb per week. This is still ahead of the planned 1½lb per week, so no problem there. If this is just a temporary plateau, we should be fine.

The running is still going well (30 mins walking, plus 3,3,2 & 5 miles), and the knee feels fine. One goal for this week was to keep my cadence above 86 rpm. I exceeded this, and so next week it's 86.5 rpm as a minimum. Planned runs are 3,3,3 and 3, and 55 mins walking.

The weights are going well, although one set is proving to be a very quick session! I'm going to add a third full-body workout in on Wednesday to try and get the most out of this recovery phase. I'm not running a lot, so there should be plenty in the tank for another 45 minutes of weights per week: especially since I'm enjoying it so much!

Goals for this week:

Stay within WLR Calories.
All runs at > 86.5 rpm average.
Increase weight training to 3x per week.

Downhill to Christmas

2011-06-27T09:42:00.000+01:00

Week seven is in the bag, and we're slowly rolling downhill to Christmas:

-15.4 lbs
-4.3% body fat
-7% body weight

Starting: 15st 0.8 lbs (210.8 lbs) / 25.1%
Currently: 13st 13.4 lbs (195.4 lbs) / 20.8%

My WLR Holiday Countdown Challenge is completed. It runs for another six weeks, so I'll try and keep that going until the end of July.

My weight always seems to bounce back up a bit after the weekend, but this week it's more or less the lowest it's been this year. The body fat % is at its lowest for months. All good stuff here.

Meanwhile I've been running, keeping a relaxed pace going for 2, 3 and 4 miles last week. This week I've done a 2 miler. The weight training is going well. I'm almost enjoying it!

This week I've got some 10RM tests for weight training (no point trying 5RM if I'm normally doing 30x sets normally!), which I'll do on Wednesday. Running will be 2m / 3m / 2m / 3m and a 50 minute walk. Again, I'll stick to the Challenge "tone" and "tum" exercises until the end of July.

Getting Lighter Every Morning!

2011-06-13T16:00:00.000+01:00

After five weeks of calorie counting:

-13.2 lbs
-2.8% body fat
-6% body weight

Starting: 15st 0.8 lbs (210.8 lbs) / 25.1%
Currently: 14st 1.6 lbs (197.6 lbs) / 22.3%

Another WLR Challenge Week completed as well (4 of 6): downhill all the way now!

More of the same this week: lots of calories in hand, lots of exercise, knee feeling stronger, and managed a few walk-runs!

This week I'm aiming to get running, as well as picking up the weights again.

Sticking to 1½lbs per week for the moment...

Challenging Times

2011-05-31T12:40:00.000+01:00

After three weeks of calorie counting:

-8.0 lbs
-1.4% body fat
-3% body weight

Starting: 15st 0.8 lbs (210.8 lbs) / 25.1%
Currently: 14st 6.8 lbs (202.8 lbs) / 23.7%
Target: 12st 12lbs (180 lbs)

Three weeks down, and two Challenge weeks completed. Very pleased, since cardio exercise has been difficult with a hurty knee. However, biking has ticked the box for the challenge, while I heal up.

I did manage a walk this morning, but only 10 minutes. The knee started to ache and I was glad to stop while I was ahead. I can now do one-leg squats from desk height, so there's something to build from there. Proper squats with barbell were painful last Monday, so I'll hold off for another 7 days before trying them again.

Meanwhile, the calorie counting has been nice and easy, being well below my required calories for 1½lbs/week. 2lbs/week can wait until I'm running regularly again!

It's the Dorking Ten at the weekend: I'm not going to be running, so I'll be able to watch LittleMissB doing her kids' race. Looking forward to that!

C'est La Knee

2011-05-20T17:02:00.000+01:00

Well, the physio said that my knee is a ligament problem, stemming from my ankle injury before Christmas. It's all a bit two-steps-forward-one-step-back at present, and I've ditched the running shoes for a bit o'biking.

The body weight will be dealt with by calorie counting (thanks to WLR), especially since I'd got up to 210lbs. Their "Holiday Countdown Challenge" is going to get me doing some exercises almost daily, to be supplemented by weight training when my knee is up to it.

Meanwhile, all running is off, and all races are 'on hold'. Not quite what I'd hoped for during my first v40 year, but c'est la knee...

Friel has an article today about returning to fitness, and measuring output vs input. I was already doing this, but it spurred me to ask the following:

Coach Friel, when returning to fitness after injury/illness, would you always recommend focusing on getting the HR under control *before* worrying about things like cadence? Or is it better to get used to operating at the "right" cadence again, before targeting a particular HR/power range?

I wasn't expecting this answer from him:

Matt--Skill trumps everything. If technique is poor then "fitness" means little.

So: when I'm running, cadence > everything. HR can go out of the window while I establish a decent, efficient running action.

Meanwhile, we wait for the knee to get better...

Baby Steps

2011-04-06T11:27:00.000+01:00

Last week's easing back went well: a 2m and 4m walk-run (with more running than walking each time), plus two weights sessions. The lifting was fine (pain free), but not unexpectedly I have lost some strength as well as fitness since Christmas. Is that actually possible? Apparently so.

Irritatingly, the knee has been uncomfortable since Sunday's 4m walk-run. The 2m z1 run on Tuesday was fine, but the knee is still letting me know it's not 100%. I'm staying off the pain-killers, however.

Slowly but surely: I will be back!

Back in the Jug Agane, Agane

2011-04-01T14:59:00.001+01:00

Hesitant to write anything just at the moment. The previous few posts were in January when I was getting over an ankle injury. Two months later, I'm coming back to running after knee trouble! It looks like my ankle wasn't fully 100% when I started running before, taking my medial ligament with it. Now, however, both knee and ankle feel fine, so let's hope we're back on with the running.

So, this week I've done some run-walking and a couple of weights sessions. All have gone very well, and with any luck I'll be plodding again on Monday.

I've set myself the target of 5 June (Dorking Ten) for my next race, aiming to finish in under 80 minutes. That should be a doddle, but nothing's for certain just at the moment.

Meanwhile I've put on a stack of weight since Christmas, so there's a few pounds to shift.

The plan says RW: 4m tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

Two in a row!

2011-01-18T06:41:00.000Z

Two runs on consecutive days, and at the moment that is something to celebrate! That's 2 outings of 2 miles each in 2 days!

The ankle isn't 100% yet and tired by the end, but it was more comfortable than yesterday. I'll rest tomorrow and see about raising the mileage on Thursday.

Back in the jug agane

2011-01-17T16:21:00.000Z

Exactly one calendar month since I slipped on ice in Epsom town centre, I managed to complete a modest run. I am pleased to say that there don't appear to have been any ill effects, so I think I am officially Back Running.

About bloody time!

State of the Onion - November

2010-12-01T09:40:00.002Z

November has come and gone, and it's time for a traditional State of the Onion Address:

Health
Nice and healthy, despite a round of chicken pox at LittleMissB's school. No, I haven't had it before.

Injuries
All feeling good, actually. No problem with my adductor, and my patellar tendon is no longer uncomfortable. A recovery week followed by a relaxed Prep period was just what the doctor ordered, it appears!

Weight
Down from 200lbs to 196.2lbs today, which is good. I'm a little behind my target of 1½lbs per week, but any consistent weight loss is to be welcomed.

It dawned on me this morning that my planned weight loss from 200lbs to 180lbs is of course 10% of my body weight! Given that I've already reduced by 17% in the past, it's not an insignificant ask: stay focused and respect the challenge.

The big bowl of fresh fruit and veg at lunch didn't last long. Must get that back on the mealtime agenda...

Racing
Two races this month: the Surrey League XC match at Denbies, and the November DMVAC Winter Handicap. I hadn't set specific goals for these, only an aspirational Garmin pace for each.

Happy enough with the Surrey League XC race, despite not hitting my arbitrary target: 37m45s was faster than last year, and I ran the tough course consistently strongly.

The November DMVAC Winter Handicap was ok, although slower than I had planned. I was actually running well within myself, at a much lower HR than before. With a bit of speed work and a bit less weight to carry, I should be faster next time.

No races planned for December.

Training
Last month I did a Lactate Threshold HR test, which went well. After junking 2009's results, I confirmed my current LTHR at 168 bpm, and increased my LTHR speed to 7m04s/mile pace. That's a little different from the blog post previously: that included 2009's results in what should be a rolling average, not a culmulative average.

Other than that, it's been mainly HRz1 training, plus weights and speed skills training.

I'm now into Base-1 (week 1), and I hope the snow isn't going to get too much in the way! Recovery runs at HRz1 are replaced by HRz2 easy runs, with some tempo work thrown in. The speed skills and weights continue.

I need to work on my cadence, and again, the snow isn't going to help me here!

Totals

November:
Run - 20 - 89.5 mi - 13.8 hrs
Strength - 6 - 0.0 mi - 5.9 hrs

Total - 26 - 89.5 mi - 19.7 hrs

Year-to-Date:
Run - 247 - 1530.4 mi - 230.1 hrs
Bike - 1 - 11.9 mi - 1.8 hrs
Walk - 2 - 3.6 mi - 1.3 hrs
Strength - 25 - 0.0 mi - 21.7 hrs

Total - 275 - 1545.9 mi - 254.9 hrs

Nice to tip the scales over 1,500 miles this month. If I can hit 1,650 by the end of December, that will be a good reflection on the year.

End of Prep Period

2010-11-30T11:55:00.002Z

The easy bit of training is in the bag, and I've enjoyed it.

Looking at last week:

Body weight down to <195½lbs by Sunday am. [FAIL: 196.8lbs Sunday morning]
Run the November DMVAC Winter Handicap at a watch pace of 6m53s [~23m15s]. FAIL: finished in 7m14s pace]
Cadence on Recovery Runs to be at 86 rpm or faster. [FAIL: Couldn't get the legs quite fast enough on Tuesday]

The weight came down, but not by enough. Not too disappointed: it's coming down at least!

The Winter Handicap run was ok: but I simply did not push hard enough at the start. I felt in control all the way around, but on review, my HR was very low. This bodes well: I'm not even in base stage and my CV fitness is improving. With strength increasing and body weight decreasing, and after some Peak stage speed work, I should be faster.

Not quite sure what happened on the long run: I was getting very cold at the end of lap one (~5 miles) and decided to head straight back home instead of staying out for lap two. 6½ miles at a relaxed HRz1 was plenty.

So for next week, my goals are:

Body weight: <194 lbs [Consolation: <195.3 lbs] by Sunday am.
Cadence on Easy Runs to be at 88 rpm or faster.
Monitor Long Run for decoupling of HR and speed.

Writing this on Tuesday, the snow has just hit the South East, although with a lace handkerchief, rather than a smothering white blanket, so the roads and pavements may get tricky. I'm not going to worry too much if I can't get the cadence up to 88 rpm on slippery roads. No excuse for ignoring the other two goals though!

Top 10 Mistakes

2010-11-24T12:53:00.001Z

The following were tweets by @jfriel 15 November to 24 November 2010:

#10 mistake of self-coached athletes? Too much emphasis on miles/kilometers. The key to race success is appropriate intensity.

#9 mistake of self-coached athletes? Too much emphasis on heart rate. Your engine is muscle.

#8 mistake of self-coached athletes? Set goals much too high to motivate greatness. Does opposite. Goals must be just out of reach.

#7 mistake of self-coached athletes? Haphazard training. High goals require a purpose for every workout.

#6 mistake of self-coached athletes? Inconsistent training. High goals? Don’t miss workouts. Ever.

#5 mistake of self-coached? Too little rest, not enough race intensity before race. Rehearse race every 72hrs for 1-3 wks prior.

#4 mistake of self-coached athletes? Workouts too intense. Increasingly train at intensity you intend to race in last 12 weeks.

#3 mistake of athletes? Not enough Base—start Build period too early. Develop endurance, force & skills before race intensity.

#2 mistake of self-coached athletes? Too many hard days. Not enough easy days. To go truly hard you must be ready.

#1 mistake of self-coached athletes? Poor ability to pace properly. Learn to negative split workouts, intervals & races.

Although Friel is best noted for his Triathlon and Cycling coaching, I believe that these are intended to apply to all endurance sports.

Noted.

[EDIT: as expected, Friel has expanded on these brief messages in his blog articles, starting here]

Prep Week 3 (of 3)

2010-11-21T19:33:00.001Z

Next week is the last of my three Prep Weeks.

Looking at last week:

Body weight down to <197lbs by Sunday am. [FAIL: 197.2lbs this morning]
Lactate Threshold HR Test: run HARD, but even-paced. [SUCCESS: strong pace, HR high]
Cadence on Recovery Runs to be at 86 rpm or faster. [FAIL: Couldn't get the legs quite fast enough on Thursday]

Disappointed that I let the body weight go up after last week's great start. I'll make a concerted effort next week to get back on track. I can do this.

The Lactate Threshold HR Test went well. I was pushing all the way, and had something in the tank for the final drag uphill. It wasn't my fastest test, but it pushed my Threshold HR up by 1 bpm, and my Threshold Pace down by 1 sec, on a rolling average.

The Weights and Speed Skills efforts are going well. The weights and reps are increasing gradually, and the hops and skips are getting easier!

The longer run was enjoyable, although was starting to tire at the end. The pace was fine for HRz1 (which I stayed within for long enough). I didn't worry about my cadence for this run. Milestone this week: 1,500 miles so far in 2010!

So for next week, my goals are:

Body weight: <195½ lbs [Consolation: <195.7 lbs] by Sunday am.
Run the November DMVAC Winter Handicap at a watch pace of 6m53s [~23m15s]
Cadence on Recovery Runs to be at 86 rpm or faster.

Handicap on Thursday: can't wait to get stuck into the last race of 2011!

Reminder

2010-11-16T21:24:00.002Z

Barns Green Half Marathon 2008 (1h 51m, 198lbs):

Barns Green Half Marathon 2009 (1h 43m, 191lbs):

Barns Green Half Marathon 2010 (1h 44m, 200lbs):

Nuff said? Quite.

(All photos by Sussex Sport Photography)

Prep Week 2 (of 3)

2010-11-14T11:05:00.001Z

Quick recap on last week's goals:

Body weight down to <198½lbs by Sunday am. [SUCCESS: 196.6lbs this morning]
Surrey League XC to be at 7m35s pace by my Garmin. [FAIL: 7m55s pace]
Cadence on Recovery Runs to be at 85 rpm or faster. [FAIL: Tuesday was ok, but legs too tired today]

Not too worried about the failures last week. The XC course is tough, and I kept my effort up throughout. This morning I couldn't keep my cadence high enough, but that was more to do with yesterday's XC than anything else.

More to the point, I'm very pleased that the concerted effort to shift weight is working. It's early days, and to a certain extent these are the "easy pounds" I'm losing, but I was very happy to lose nearly 3½lbs this week. If I maintain this weight this week, I'll have met my weight loss goals! "Gold star" if I manage to lose a further 1½lbs!

The weight training has been going well: moving up with most exercises, and I'm feeling strong when I run. My posture feels good for longer. Very noticeably, my left ankle is not flapping around as much (as seen in my Barns Green photos (courtesy of Sussex Sport Photography!)). I hope this will help with my running speed!

So for next week, my goals are:

Body weight: <197 lbs [Gold Star: <195.1 lbs] by Sunday am.
Lactate Threshold HR Test: run HARD, but even-paced.
Cadence on Recovery Runs to be at 86 rpm or faster.

Hopefully I'll have more in the legs on Sunday morning to do the longer run justice...

Prep Week 1 (of 3)

2010-11-07T08:23:00.001Z

Recovery week completed, and my knee and adductor feel fine.

Next week will be my first week following Friel's periodisation properly. It's pretty dull by most training standards, but it's only a prep week!

The plan is:

Monday: Weight Training (Chest / Back / Shoulders)
Tuesday: Speed Skills
Wednesday: Weight Training (Legs / Arms)
Thursday: RR: 4m z1
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Surrey League XC, Denbies
Sunday: RR: 10m z1

The totals should be ~5 hours total exercise, and 23 miles for the week.

Weekly goals are:

Body weight down to <198½lbs by Sunday am.
Surrey League XC to be at 7m35s pace by my Garmin.
Cadence on Recovery Runs to be at 85 rpm or faster.

Let's see how that goes!

State of the Onion - October

2010-11-02T11:17:00.001Z

Right - that's the 2010 "Season" done and dusted. Not quite sure what to make of it really! Let's look at the headlines:

Health

A topic of its own since this time last year. Nothing to report health-wise, apart from the odd cold.

Injuries

Topics on the agenda this month: my right adductor and left patellar tendon. Nothing major with either, thankfully.

My right adductor is feeling quite tired, and was noticeable on Sunday at Barns Green. A couple of days of rest later, and it's feeling slightly stiff, but ok. It's going to be light mileage this week, and I hope it'll be ok after a bit of R&R.

The patellar tendon has been on-and-off for a few months, and probably deserves a bit more attention than it's getting. The thing is, it's never really painful when I'm running: just a dull ache.

Weight

This time last year I was bemoaning the fact that I was up to 196lbs, having been 185lbs straight out of hospital. The good news is that I'm currently only a few lbs heavier now. The bad news is that (shock) I'm a few lbs heavier! I'm hovering at 200lbs exactly, and my primary training objective is to get down to 180lbs before my 40th in February. At 1½lbs per week, that's eminently achievable, but will need willpower and hard work.

Experimenting with a big bowl of fresh fruit and veg at lunch time: raw carrots, peppers, celery and cucumber, in place of the usual chocolate. With the running I'm doing, there's no excuse.

Racing

Recent racing hasn't been spectacular, but it's not been awful either.

I was pleased to just sneak under my target time at the Cabbage Patch Ten (aim: Garmin pace of 7m45s; result: 77m28s watch time). I faded at about 7-8 miles and clung on to the target time. Lovely event though, and it'll be my target A-race next year.

The October DMVAC Winter Handicap was not awful. I had dropped out the previous month, so a finish was an improvement! 24m27s was slower than I had wanted, but it was nice to be pushing hard again.

Finally, Barns Green Half Marathon on Sunday was not bad. More fading at 8-9 miles, having kept largely on-pace through the early miles.I didn't maintain the 7m40s Garmin pace I had hoped for, but 1h 44m 04s wasn't awful.

Races on the horizon are the November DMVAC Winter Handicap, and the DMVAC-hosted Surrey League XC at Denbies. No major targets set for these two.

Training

Base-1 work starts at the end of this month, so there's a few weeks of light z1 work between now and then. As well as the races, I'll be continuing the weight training as before, and introducing some plyometric/speed skills stuff from Friel: skips, bounds, hops and strides. I hope the knee and adductor are ok before I start those! Quite looking forward to getting into the speed skills stuff: it's something I've done little of before.

I'll do another Lactate Threshold HR test in a couple of weeks to see how my speed and fitness looks.

Totals

October:
Run - 19 - 92.3 mi - 14.2 hrs
Strength - 6 - 0.0 mi - 5.5 hrs
Total - 25 - 92.3 mi - 19.7 hrs

Year-to-Date:
Run - 225 - 1426.6 mi - 214.4 hrs
Bike - 1 - 11.9 mi - 1.8 hrs
Walk - 2 - 3.6 mi - 1.3 hrs
Strength - 19 - 0.0 mi - 15.7 hrs
Total - 247 - 1442.2 mi - 233.3 hrs

The Plan reckons I'll be finishing the year on about 1650 miles in 2010. That's fine. I think 2010 miles was too optimistic, too arbitrary, and too unsustainable with everything else I have on my plate. Maybe one year, but not in 2010 or 2011.

Onwards and upwards. 2011 starts on Monday, it would appear...

The Plan: 2010-11

2010-10-27T13:57:00.002+01:00

Quite a bit of head-scratching over the last few weeks: where to take my running, what races to aim for, what do I really want out of my running life, etc. I think it's inevitable after what's been a disappointing year. Far from breaking historic PBs from the 80s, I finished 2 seconds behind my marathon PB at London, way off pace at the Elmbridge 10k, with some awful race results between.

There have been high points: my Wokingham Half Marathon result was dead on the goal pace of 7m30s per mile; The Cabbage Patch Ten went better than expected, at 7m45s pace (yep, 15s per mile slower than half marathon at the start of the year!), and the Richmond 10k was speedy enough at just outside 7m pace.

The low point has been my weight, and with this sitting at 195-200 lbs for the year I can't expect any real improvement. If I can get closer to 180 lbs, I'm in much better shape for faster racing.

So: no point in aiming for lifetime PBs in June, if I'm too fat in October. Exact target paces can wait till closer to the race date(s), but recent PBs may have to suffice. Meanwhile the belt-tightening will start in earnest.

Target 'A' Races for next year will be:

Beat 1h38m28s (7m30s pace) at Richmond Half Marathon on 8 May 2011,
Beat 43m46s (7m02s pace) at Richmond 10k on 19 June 2011,
Beat 1h17m58s (7m47s pace) at The Cabbage Patch Ten on ~15 October 2011 (date tbc) (MoAAR*)

The following will be 'B' Races for the purposes of planning my training:

Leith Hill Half Marathon
Sutton Runners 10k
Dorking Ten
Elmbridge 10k
Wimbledon 5k
Harry Hawkes 8
Barns Green Half Marathon (although it's officially after the season)

'C' Races will be as follows:

Surrey League XC Series
East Surrey League Series
DMVAC Handicap Series
Elmore 7

No plans to do any other races, but these things can sometimes 'just happen'!

I've found Hal Higdon's training plans useful, but for next year I'm going to have a go at following Joe Friel's periodisation strategy a little more closely. That means having clearly-defined prep/base/build/peak/race periods, with a different balance of sessions in each period.

I am working on a 300 hour season, so training will be from 5-9½ hours per week. My written plan suggests that this will be on about 28-30 miles per week. This is likely to work out ~200 miles less than the last two years.

Weight training will continue on the same Anatomical Adaptation basis for the next 12 months.

Truth be told, if I can shift this weight (stop me if I'm banging on about it too much), it probably doesn't matter what I do over the next few months in running terms! Still, it does no harm to have a plan...

Barns Green on Sunday. I'm settling for 7m40s Garmin pace for that one.

(*MoAAR = Mother of All A-Races)

Weighing Up Options

2010-10-14T14:50:00.001+01:00

Coo er gosh. Is this thing on? Been a while, hasn't it...

Brief discussion on Twitter earlier today about the weight training I've been doing. Basically I've been loosely following Joe Friel's weight training guidelines, and in particular the Anatomical Adaptation phase. JF recommends following this for a season if you're a newcomer to the sport (triathlon), and that's close enough to my history with weight training! Fewer reps and heavier weights can erm, wait.

So I'm doing 20-30 reps of various exercises, and 2 sets of each (plus warm up). If I had more time, I'd do 3 sets. Again due to time constraints, I'm doing 2 sessions per week, and splitting the body into chest/shoulders/back and legs/arms. Core work is done at the end of each session, following a Men's Health auto-trainer thing from a few years ago.

The sessions are as follows:

Session 1

Bench Press
Bent-Over Rows
Behind Shoulder Press
Upright Rows

Session 2

Squats
Good Mornings
Heel Raises
Biceps Curls
Close-Grip Bench Press

Core (after each session)

Flutter Kicks (2 sets x20, increasing by one per week)
Crunches (3 sets x20, increasing by one per week)
Side Crunches (3 sets x20, increasing by one per week)

I started with ridiculously low weights (not much more than the bar, in some cases), and started with 2 sets of 20x on the first week. The next week I aimed for 22x, then 25x, 27x, and finally 30x.

Now I'm aiming for 30x per set, and have a simple up/down rule for each exercise: if I make the 30 reps, next week I'll add 5%. If I fail before 20 reps, next week I'll take off 5%.

Weight training isn't something I particularly enjoy, and CBA hits hard when the alarm goes off. So far so good though, and I hope my running will improve as a result.

State of the Onion - April

2010-04-30T09:48:00.002+01:00

A little bit dull in terms of cross-training, but that is expected to change later this month:

Run - 22 runs - 165.8 mi - 25.1 hrs (c/o runsaturday.com)

Approx 1½ lbs lighter, down to 176 lbs.

Year-to-date:

Run - 97 runs - 675.5 mi - 102.5 hrs

Walk - 2 walks - 3.6 mi - 1.3 hrs

Total - 99 workouts - 679.1 mi - 103.8 hrs (c/o runsaturday.com)

Well on course for 2010 miles in 2010 (subject to Getting Back To It before October, like last year!).

Races:

Virgin London Marathon (A-race), in 3h57m48s (2 seconds outside my PB set in Edinburgh last year). Not a comfortable run, but some lessons learnt. Currently deciding whether to junk the late year plan and find an autumn marathon in which to "put everything right", or whether to stick to the plan and then gear up for a spring marathon in 2011. The latter seems most sensible at present.

Looking ahead to May: Sutton 10k (C-race), Richmond Half Marathon (C-race), and Dorking Ten (B-race).

Current A-race target: Elmbridge 10k (aim: lifetime PB of under 42m53s). Will need to train hard and fast, and will need to shed pounds. 180 lbs by July? Maybe...

VLM For Dummies

2010-04-27T13:30:00.001+01:00

The day started well: met a few DMVAC members on the train to Epsom, then travelled the rest of the way with @Deenzy1. We got separated in the pre-race quick-leak-then-baggage-lorry scrum, so I warmed up and prepped on my own. First mistake was taking too long to get to my pen, by which time they'd let the runners all bunch up and move to the start. By the time the gun went off, I was pretty much at the back of blue start, jogging along in dense crowds at over 9 minute pace. Given that I was aiming for sub-3h30m, this was Not A Good Thing!

A couple of faster miles later, and I was not far off pace. A few DMVAC supporters were near Cutty Sark (I saw Steve Bush, Wendy, and Flash), and gave me a lift as I went through there. However, the constant hopping and stepping between slower runners was starting to take its toll: the legs were not comfortable, and I wasn't at all settled in my running. The weather was beginning to warm up, and I was conscious I needed to take on fluids, since hot temperatures were predicted for later. Averaging half a bottle of water at each mile, I started to get stomach cramps at 11 miles, and my pace really suffered. I felt better after a comfort break at 12 miles, but my pace was significantly slower at this point.

Saw @GregP63 at his water station at 13 miles (thanks for the drink, sir!), and got a huge cheer from Rob Russell leaning over the barriers (a massive boost, thank you!) just before passing the Fetchpoint. However, by 16 miles I was trying to decide whether to bail out and find a tube station or not. I walked for a half mile at this point, and devoured one of my emergency packets of wine gums, not quite sure whether I'd suffer even more later. Apparently I missed Mr. RunSaturday.com (@slodge) at 16 miles!

As it turned out, although my pace was slower, I was a lot more comfortable, and managed to keep going, with under 10 miles to go. The crowd at Canary Wharf was amazing, amplified by the tall buildings and enclosed space. Another shout from a club-mate at this point helped to spur me on, as did more encouragement from Rob Russell at 22½ miles!

I went through 20 miles at bang on 3h (official start time, so ~2h57m40s watch/chip time), so knew that a PB was still on the cards, provided I could keep working hard. I wasn't looking at my pace, but I was counting down the miles at this point. The crowd was fantastic coming along the embankment, and a shout from @Steve_RF pushed me on. I saw my family at around 25 miles, and that gave me a huge lift to finish strongly.

My official time was 3h57m48s, which is 2 seconds over my PB set at last year's Edinburgh. Given that Edinburgh is basically downhill, I'm not too disappointed with that.

What went wrong?

Too much evening running on a full stomach. My fat-burning last year was noticeably better, from only running in the early morning with no food. I didn't walk at all on my LSRs last year.
My weight is still too high. If Friel's "2 secs per lb per mile" rule of thumb is anything like correct, I'm carrying at least 40-60 seconds per mile around with me. PBs are not set carrying bags of sugar.
I think 3h30m was probably too optimistic, especially off the interrupted training. I had barely established a base from the June-October lay-off, and I wasn't injury-free during my marathon preparation. Next marathon will be aiming for 3h50m-3h45m, subject to how my training and racing goes between now and then. I am not certain that my next marathon will be in 2011.
Went to sleep at the start and didn't stay up with the runners of my (expected) pace. That hampered my first few miles, and I was forever off the pace thereafter.

Anyway, enough navel-gazing: Sutton 10k this weekend, and a lifetime PB to beat at Elmbridge 10k in July. The short stuff starts here...

The Weighting Game

2010-03-15T14:08:00.000Z

Been a while since I last blogged, but I wanted to record this from Friel:

One pound of excess body weight is equivalent to 2 seconds per mile.

So, for the weekend's 2-mile relay (14m25s), If I'd been closer to fighting weight (say 180lbs, which is still 20 lbs over, from Daniels' tables for my height), I'd have run 13m05s. Something to ponder on, and to keep in mind.

Training Load

2010-01-05T09:25:00.000Z

Training's been going well, but uneventful since the New Year. That, you must understand, is A Very Good Thing. This is Week 3 of the Hal Higdon plan, so has a cutback 'long run' of only 8 miles on Sunday. I'm already feeling rested after the weekend's 12 miles, so quite happy with fatigue at present. If all goes well, I'll be slipping from Higdon's Marathon Advanced-I to Advanced-II before the end of the month.

I cannot emphasise enough how enjoyable it is to be out running regularly again!

Been giving some thought to Training Load / TSS, and if this article and this one by The Friel correspond with 18 months of my HR-based training logs, I should be able to estimate a Training Load-based plan for after the marathon. Needs some work to turn a concept into a plan, but it would be fun to do some research on that. The Training Load plug-in for SportTracks is set up and waiting for my input.

Still haven't done a 2009 round-up Onion yet. Watch this space...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T11:57:00.000Z

Tough tempo run in glorious conditions. Aiming for my 10k pace of 7m11s for the two tempo miles, but could only manage 7m23s & 7m32s. Legs felt decidedly unspritely.

I guess the late night and alcohol wouldn't have helped either...

Not been blogging much, but I'll try and do a year's worth of Onion later today.

Marathon Training Starts Here. No, here.

2009-12-22T09:06:00.003Z

The boiler did its annual fail-at-Christmas stunt, so didn't get out for the 3 mile recovery run that was planned for yesterday (for fear of the cold shower afterwards). Week One Day 2 of The Marathon Plan was a hilly run:

The plan said 3x hills, but Box Hill isn't light enough yet so my Seven Hills 9k route will have to suffice. Pace was fine at 9m31s /mile. HR was doing the right sort of things: staying in z2 and gradually moving up to higher z4 on the hardest bits. Cadence stayed even throughout at 84/min. Higher would have been better, but with the snow, ice and slush on the ground, I'm not complaining.

Ankle felt a little stiff, but otherwise a nice run. I felt fine afterwards (that "I could have done another couple of miles" feeling), but my legs felt stiff later on!

Week 1 is a bit topsy-turvey what with Christmas occurring this year, so today's planned 5 miles will be on Christmas Day, with the rest day on Thursday (Christmas Eve). If I'm feeling particularly energetic I'll bod out on Thursday for the 3 miles I didn't do yesterday, but I doubt I will, to be honest!

The plan is to follow Hal Higdon's Advanced-I plan, until such a time as I feel I've got my base back in order. Looking at it realistically, I'm probably going to need all the base I can get, but it would have been nice to have done some Advanced-II plan training. Maybe next year...

Sliding into Snow

2009-12-18T16:10:00.000Z

Yesterday's 7-miler was good, but tough:

Icy underfoot, and a lack of street lighting meant that I was having to pick my way through unpredictable patches of good tarmac, puddles and ice. Cadence was lower than yesterday, not unsurprisingly (87.0).

Was harder work on my ankle, especially the really slippery bits, but I got through unscathed. Even a day later, there's been no problem. Hopefully I'll be able to do a blog without the 'ankle' tag!

HR was high, partly due to increased cadence, but also due to a cold. Bleurgh. Gorgeous sky overhead though!

Last night we had a few inches of snow. I hope tomorrow's Lactate Threshold Heart Rate test will be possible...

Winter Draws On

2009-12-16T11:35:00.001Z

The temperature dropped below freezing today, but The Training Plan said I was resting today (phew!). There's just a modest sprinkle of snow here, which might even turn a bit sleety if we're not careful.

Meanwhile the ankle feels really good: no stiffness at all this morning (first time for a few weeks). I'm conscious of a little discomfort, but it bends, moves and takes my weight, so all is good.

Seven miles easy tomorrow, which will be my longest run for 3-4 weeks!

Cannot bloody wait...

First Steps with a Foot Pod

2009-12-15T09:29:00.000Z

Well it was just a 6-mile easy run, but the fact I was trying to run to cadence made it faster than that!

First time out with a foot pod. Clicked the "use indoors" button and lost the GPS trace. FP seems accurate enough, though, recording my run as 6.57 miles on a loop of about 6.51 miles.

HR was high, trying to raise cadence above 90/min. Average was 88.5/min over the run, so quite happy with that. Haven't set HRM to Friel zones yet, and due to having a cold and mincingly short strides, I wasn't worried about HR. Pace was nippy though: 8m23s!

Ankle felt fine all the way through (even after turning it over in the dark!), but is stiffening up as I type. Hope it's ok by Thursday!

Surrey League XC, Lloyd Park

2009-12-14T15:48:00.001Z

Nice weather, but not such a great run:

The target was sub-8m/mile, and I was pleased to average 7m55s for this one. I didn't score for DMVAC, but it was nice to be out running. My official time was 41m58s.

I set off too fast as usual, but I was pleased to be able to keep the pressure on once I'd found my pace.

The ankle held up ok, although a few roots and camber changes gave me some twinges. It's been stiff ever since, though. More running from this week, and provided it doesn't get any worse, I'll be happy.

Scary thought (on so many levels): London Marathon training starts next week. That means that Christmas is nearly upon us...

Rest Day

2009-12-11T11:02:00.001Z

No running today: XC tomorrow.

The ankle feels fine today, which is good.

A New Start

2009-12-10T15:12:00.000Z

Going public now. Welcome!

Pretty nondescript run this morning:

Just four miles round Dorking, building up my ankle after a few days off.

Pace was pretty fast for a recovery run (8m49s), but the HR was higher than usual (147-149 bpm). Cadence was 29-30 right steps in 20 seconds throughout, so on the right lines.

The ankle felt fine through 2 miles, but was much stronger than Tuesday's run. Progress, then.

Next race: Surrey League XC at Lloyd Park, Croydon. Aim for the race: sub-8 mins per mile (~40 minutes for 5 miles).