Well, if you read my last blog you'll know my schedule for last week. I started with an easy lead in, with rest on Mon and a light jog on Tue. These were fine and I even managed to go for a walk on Mon with Jo, although we did get drenched on our way back. I was always going to find Wed the hardest session in terms of intensity and this proved to be the case. My lungs were burning as I motored on down the canal in Leeds; 10mins as fast as you can I kept telling myself, earn your rest, earn your rest. Then the 2 min jog/rest came and it seemed to dissapear instantly. I then had to start again; another 10mins the other way but this time I was on the home straight. Breathing heavy, but feeling ok and I even felt a sense of enjoyment, as it was the first time I'd been able to run quickly for 4 months. I looked at my watch, the final two mins and a glimpse of the end of the canal - a long way away. Eventually I finished the 10mins and the canal, before I jogged, exhausted, for home. Even at this laboured pace for the last .75m I'd managed 37mins and 4.77m.
Thu I trained in the gym. Then I played my first game of staff 5-a-side on Fri. I rested on Sat, so I'm yet to tackle the Kenyan Hills. On Sun I looked out the window and there it was - the dreaded SNOW. This meant I either had to dip out of the week's long run or do it on the treadmill. Maybe because it's the first week or maybe just because I'm stubborn, I chose option 2. I love to bore myself self stupid once in while anyway. For my toil I gained three small victories: firstly I completed 75mins running; secondly I ran over 8m; and finally, I watched the treadmill give up after 60mins; I had to start it again for the final 15mins. Haha I'd beaten the treadmill! I would have still been much happier running outside though.
Gareth
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
The Real Deal
Right then,
After a fairly decent pre-training period over the last two weeks (I ran again on Sun), there's a slight step up in training for me this week. I'm going to follow the improver's training schedule I got from runners world. This is a 14 week lead up to the marathon.
Week 1 - includes:
Mon - Rest (which i managed admirably);
Tue - Steady jog 25 Min's (completed on the treadmill early this am despite going for a curry last night);
Wed - Two 10min runs at 80-90% effort with 2 Min's recovery jog between (this will be hard);
Thu - 30 Min's cross training e.g. swimming, cycling or gym and 30 Min's steady jog (doable);
Friday - rest (again doable);
Sat - Kenyan Hills which involves running up a steep hill for 2Min's jogging back down, and repeating for 15 Min's (this will be very hard)
Sun - Long run for 75 Min's (sort of hard but doable)
I'll report how I get on soon. Remember this is the easy part.
Gareth
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After a fairly decent pre-training period over the last two weeks (I ran again on Sun), there's a slight step up in training for me this week. I'm going to follow the improver's training schedule I got from runners world. This is a 14 week lead up to the marathon.
Week 1 - includes:
Mon - Rest (which i managed admirably);
Tue - Steady jog 25 Min's (completed on the treadmill early this am despite going for a curry last night);
Wed - Two 10min runs at 80-90% effort with 2 Min's recovery jog between (this will be hard);
Thu - 30 Min's cross training e.g. swimming, cycling or gym and 30 Min's steady jog (doable);
Friday - rest (again doable);
Sat - Kenyan Hills which involves running up a steep hill for 2Min's jogging back down, and repeating for 15 Min's (this will be very hard)
Sun - Long run for 75 Min's (sort of hard but doable)
I'll report how I get on soon. Remember this is the easy part.
Gareth
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Thursday, 11 February 2010
Pre Training 5
Yesterday turned out to be pretty eventful.
It started out fairly normal. Into uni in the morning to crack on with some work. Then went for a swim about 12. 20 lengths of front crawl which is no mean feet for me. I think I need some lessons on my breathing pattern, which seems to be all out of sinc when I swim.
Anyway got through that fine. Then headed back to uni for some lunch (soup and a bread roll). Just as I sat down to begin the tasty but awful looking scotch broth, I saw Brendan (a fellow research student) pelting across the courtyard below, with his bike, followed by what turned out to be an enraged white van driver who thought that Brendan had bumped into his van.
At this point Steve (fellow research student 2) and myself got downstairs as fast as we could to see Brendan being halled out of the reception revolving doors. We managed to break it up without the van driver throwing any windmills in our direction, but the van driver then went outside and stormed off with Brendan's bike. By this time Ian (fellow research student 3) had also joined the party, so we followed the van driver to his van where despite our strong protest, he threw Brendan's bike in the back of - you guessed it - his van. A pointless argument then ensued, which consisted of the van driver saying, "what's his name, he fled the scene of an accident" (ever so melodramatic these white van men), and us saying "where's the damage, and give us the bike back". This soon deteriorated into "what's his name" - "give us the bike back", produced in a repeating and almost rhythmic fashion. You could say we'd reached a stalemate. York St. John security (two guys) then turned up and were very keen on the driver's side of the argument, but to be fare, I think this was to try and calm the him down. One of the security men then stayed with the van driver, trying to persuade him to give the bike back, whilst we went inside with the other security guy to get Brendan's side of the story.
That's the most exciting part over with really. Turned out that Brendan hadn't bumped the van. The police came and diffused the situation with both Brendan and the van driver apologising to each other, having a good old handshake (why are you sqeezing my hand so hard) and the bike being returned.
There you go that was Wed.
Sorry to be light on the training details but I'm sure the story was more interesting than the current status of my knee. Which seems ok thanks.
Gareth
It started out fairly normal. Into uni in the morning to crack on with some work. Then went for a swim about 12. 20 lengths of front crawl which is no mean feet for me. I think I need some lessons on my breathing pattern, which seems to be all out of sinc when I swim.
Anyway got through that fine. Then headed back to uni for some lunch (soup and a bread roll). Just as I sat down to begin the tasty but awful looking scotch broth, I saw Brendan (a fellow research student) pelting across the courtyard below, with his bike, followed by what turned out to be an enraged white van driver who thought that Brendan had bumped into his van.
At this point Steve (fellow research student 2) and myself got downstairs as fast as we could to see Brendan being halled out of the reception revolving doors. We managed to break it up without the van driver throwing any windmills in our direction, but the van driver then went outside and stormed off with Brendan's bike. By this time Ian (fellow research student 3) had also joined the party, so we followed the van driver to his van where despite our strong protest, he threw Brendan's bike in the back of - you guessed it - his van. A pointless argument then ensued, which consisted of the van driver saying, "what's his name, he fled the scene of an accident" (ever so melodramatic these white van men), and us saying "where's the damage, and give us the bike back". This soon deteriorated into "what's his name" - "give us the bike back", produced in a repeating and almost rhythmic fashion. You could say we'd reached a stalemate. York St. John security (two guys) then turned up and were very keen on the driver's side of the argument, but to be fare, I think this was to try and calm the him down. One of the security men then stayed with the van driver, trying to persuade him to give the bike back, whilst we went inside with the other security guy to get Brendan's side of the story.
That's the most exciting part over with really. Turned out that Brendan hadn't bumped the van. The police came and diffused the situation with both Brendan and the van driver apologising to each other, having a good old handshake (why are you sqeezing my hand so hard) and the bike being returned.
There you go that was Wed.
Sorry to be light on the training details but I'm sure the story was more interesting than the current status of my knee. Which seems ok thanks.
Gareth
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Pre Training 4
After resting the quads yesterday, the sun was shining and a lab session meant I couldn't go for a swim, so another run. This time outside on real terrain - tarmac, stairs, gravel and everything - to really give the knee a good test.
York St John, where I work/be a student is located just outside the Roman Walls which means it's less than a mile in two directions to the river Ouze, which has some great paths for running on. So I headed off through the Museum Gardens and down to river. Out on the path for about a mile before turning back and heading towards the city centre. Then under the bridge with all the cafe's on it. Up the stairs and the ramp at the next bridge. Left into the city passing M & S. Left up Whip-ma-wop-ma Gate (haha! this is a real street believe it or not). Right towards Monkgate. Then back up Lord Mayor's Walk to uni.
To save breath and reading time, for future reference this will be known as 'Short York River Run 1'; and for the stato's the distance is 3.62m; time today was 31 mins 27 secs, which equates to 8 min 40 secs per mile.
The knee held up ok. It felt a little bit heavy towards the end but I think this was probably due to the lack of miles in the past few months. For the record I had to push myself to keep going after with about .50 miles to go.
I think I'll try and fit in a swim tomorrow and then maybe a rest day after that.
Gareth
York St John, where I work/be a student is located just outside the Roman Walls which means it's less than a mile in two directions to the river Ouze, which has some great paths for running on. So I headed off through the Museum Gardens and down to river. Out on the path for about a mile before turning back and heading towards the city centre. Then under the bridge with all the cafe's on it. Up the stairs and the ramp at the next bridge. Left into the city passing M & S. Left up Whip-ma-wop-ma Gate (haha! this is a real street believe it or not). Right towards Monkgate. Then back up Lord Mayor's Walk to uni.
To save breath and reading time, for future reference this will be known as 'Short York River Run 1'; and for the stato's the distance is 3.62m; time today was 31 mins 27 secs, which equates to 8 min 40 secs per mile.
The knee held up ok. It felt a little bit heavy towards the end but I think this was probably due to the lack of miles in the past few months. For the record I had to push myself to keep going after with about .50 miles to go.
I think I'll try and fit in a swim tomorrow and then maybe a rest day after that.
Gareth
Monday, 8 February 2010
Pre Training 3
Well over the past few days, training has been sketchy.
The weekend came along and I went from a self promise of a run on Sat shifting to Sun and nearly didn't bother with that because of nursing a sore head. With the constant supply of beer during and after the Eng v Wales game and then heading out in to town later on being the cause of the hangover.
Top food by Mum though and a good embarrassing photo on Megan's cake to see in her 18th (Happy Birthday Megan Again!). Well done for milking it for all it's worth.
Anyway back to the training. Sunday's run was a tredmill jog for 5k. Now this seems fairly unimpressive but given that I haven't run over a mile for nearly four months, I was really pleased that the knee held up. Thighs are aching today though.
Next challenge 5k outside in the real world I reckon and maybe another swim tomorrow.
Gareth
The weekend came along and I went from a self promise of a run on Sat shifting to Sun and nearly didn't bother with that because of nursing a sore head. With the constant supply of beer during and after the Eng v Wales game and then heading out in to town later on being the cause of the hangover.
Top food by Mum though and a good embarrassing photo on Megan's cake to see in her 18th (Happy Birthday Megan Again!). Well done for milking it for all it's worth.
Anyway back to the training. Sunday's run was a tredmill jog for 5k. Now this seems fairly unimpressive but given that I haven't run over a mile for nearly four months, I was really pleased that the knee held up. Thighs are aching today though.
Next challenge 5k outside in the real world I reckon and maybe another swim tomorrow.
Gareth
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Pre Training 2
Well after going out to Da Sandro's (the best pizza this side of Milan) for Megan's birthday yesterday - happy birthday Megan - the 6am alarm sent shockwaves through my system. Still I managed to drag myself out of bed and go downstairs to the gym. Slightly worryingly, the only other person there was a girl - looking on the thin side of Kate Moss - eagerly burning the calories from last night's Rivita dinner.
Anyway I got through my workout (very slowly) and went back up to the flat, only to find we had nothing in for Breakfast. Had to hold out for a banana and a coffee at uni. Bad times!
Gareth
Anyway I got through my workout (very slowly) and went back up to the flat, only to find we had nothing in for Breakfast. Had to hold out for a banana and a coffee at uni. Bad times!
Gareth
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Pre Training 1
I've got to start my full training schedule on 16th Feb, and after being laid off from running and football for the past 3 months with a cartliage injury, I need to build up gradually to this date. Therefore the first day of pre-training involved a 40min swim at the pool in York at lunchtime and the leg strength exercises - the physio has given to me - after tea (always to Jo's amusement).
The highlight of the day was the final length of the swim where I spotted a guy going at a decent lick in the lane next to me. After 5m or so I caught him up, then kept in line with him for the next 15m (just to let him know he was in a race!), then in the final 5m put the speed kick on and beasted him to the finish!
These middle age boys definately have me on the endurance but they left their pace behind with their girlfriend's shoulder pads and new romantic haircuts somewhere in 1987.
I know it's pathetic, but this is the only competition I've got at the moment. You always need something to fuel the fire.
Gareth
The highlight of the day was the final length of the swim where I spotted a guy going at a decent lick in the lane next to me. After 5m or so I caught him up, then kept in line with him for the next 15m (just to let him know he was in a race!), then in the final 5m put the speed kick on and beasted him to the finish!
These middle age boys definately have me on the endurance but they left their pace behind with their girlfriend's shoulder pads and new romantic haircuts somewhere in 1987.
I know it's pathetic, but this is the only competition I've got at the moment. You always need something to fuel the fire.
Gareth
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