Week 7 of 13 (11th - 17th Feb)

WEEK 7
Mon - Conditioning work
Tue - Track session (15 x 1000 off 1 min c. 3m38 per rep, 5:50 mpm)
Wed - 8.5m XC (8:25 mpm)
Thu AM - 7.5m (7:55 mpm)
Thu PM -"To failure" Track Session (5 x 800m off 3minutes, 2:24, 2:24, 2:28, 2:34, 2:38)
Fri - 3.1m (7:30 mpm)
Sat - 7.5m (8:00 mpm)
Sun - Rest
TOTAL MILEAGE - 39.5

So time is ticking away and I seem to be struggling to string together two good weeks of training on the bounce. On paper this week looks quite disappointing with yet again low mileage. I've been a little unfortunate that the tight calf I was struggling a few weeks ago seems to have come back. Friday's run was uncharacteristically short for this reason. I guess this little niggle can be of no suprise. After what must've been a depressing read on last week's blog I had a number of e-mails and messages from friends basically saying "chin-up lad". Low morale, fatigue, injury risk, all these things are related.

So on the positive side, the two key sessions I did do this week were pretty good. 15 x 1km on the track is tough going but I managed this pretty comfortably. Cardiovascually I was in the best shape I've felt for a while doing that kind of session. Thursday night's track session was a "to failure" session. The aim of the session was to run the 800m reps in 2:23. I would continue trying to run 2:23 until my average rep was above 2:32. The idea is that the 2:23 are very very hard, the session pushes me beyond my current limits and then my rep times fall off the clif. The result a lot of lactic acid. Unfortunately my average didn't go above 2:32 so I probably should've done a few more reps, but I tried to run the 6th rep and had to step off the track after 300m. The lactic acid was absolutley brutal. Not something us ultrarunners usually have to deal with. We are hoping that by the summer the 2:23 per 800m will be extrapolated up to 3000m. Something to look forward to after the ACP.

This week I'm feeling quite relaxed about the missed training. I'm not injured as such, as I ran for an hour on Saurday hassle free. A lot of hard work has been done (but not as much I as would like has been evidenced on the blog) and this could easily be undone by just plodding on with the training and pretending it's all okay. So I have to try and be mature and manage this in a way to maximise my training. Which is why I decided that rest was the course of action for the day. The only shame is that I am due to be running the Barry 40 next week and this kind of preparation is not as ideal. I have a couple of options for Barry but I guess it is all dependent on how I can deal with the calf this week. If the calf recovers quickly I just treat this week as a bonus taper week that I wasn't expecting. If the calf takes a little longer, I will still head down to Barry and run this as training event. I would like to run long next weekend anyway since I haven't done so in the past two weekend. So it's just a case of whether or not it will be easy or it will be hard. Let's hope for the latter! As my wife said "let's not do any that will jepodise Perth". For a non-runner she obviously gets it more than I sometimes credit her.

Plan to get me in best shape for Barry is a second trip to the Osteopath (seen already on Friday evening), sports massage on Wednesday, easy week of running, early nights and the next. I've not had any rehab treatment was almost a year now, but with this niggle raising its head twice in the period of a month it's time to take some more serious action. As I said I want to be at Barry regardless if I am to race or to plod. I missed the race last year and just want to experience what is one of the classic events on the UK circuit. Maybe it's just a cursed event for me and my body's way of avoiding running 161 laps of the track!

On the England team front, I received some more official confirmation this week. The kit order has already gone in. All exciting stuff. I've been scouring the internet for news on the other teams but am yet to see any information. I'm sure you will all let us know when you find out.

Mileage so far: 39, 73, 102, 31, 29, 76, 40

Week 6 of 13 (4th Feb - 10th Feb)

WEEK 6
Mon AM - Conditioning work
Mon PM - 11m (8:00 mpm)
Tue - 1.6km w/u. Interval Session 6km @ 5:43 mpm, 3km @ 5:41 mpm, 2km @ 5:35 mpm, 1.6km @ 5:36 mpm, 1.2km @ 5:35 mpm, 0.9km @ 5:33 mpm, 0.6km @ 5:26 mpm, 0.4km @ 5:18 mpm
Wed Lunch - Weights - Cleans, overhead squat, deadlifts
Wed PM - 8m (8:00 mpm)
Thu -2.25m w/u, 31 x 400m (c. 1:40 per 400, 20 secs rest), 2.75m w/d
Fri - Rest / Yoga
Sat - 12 x 1.3m + w/d (alternating 8:00 mpm and 6:30 mpm) - Total 18m
Sun - 16m (8:00 mpm)
TOTAL MILEAGE - 76.5

Tired this week. I am quite suprised I actually got round to doing the blog as for the first time I really didn't want to. I thought I should be re-energised after holiday. Oh well I guess that's what a week back at work does to you. All in all a positive week, the only session that didn't go to plan was today's planned 30 miler. Physically I felt okay, but a busy weekend socialising left me feeling a little fried. I also had a few personal things to sort out that were playing on my mind. Training isn't always physical and I decided cutting the long run short and using the extra time to sort a few things out and relax would pay dividends. More time to relax and let the mind repair. Besides an 18m / 16m back to back run isn't too bad going.

I have been finding recently I've been getting more and more stressed about running and training and fitting it all in. Partly this is due to an increase in training over the past 6 months, but also I've had a bit of a change in mindset. I used to be positive, adaptable and quite a good problem solver when it comes to fitting all the training in. However it seems I now just get in a strop when it doesn't go my way and I have to juggle things round. I'm pleased I've come to this realisation and I'm trying to make active steps to manage the training load more positively.

On the training front, I was particularly pleased with Tuesday's session. Long rests on these reps, between 4-6 minutes but this was a big accumulation of sub 6 minute pace running. I just wish it was summer again. These sessions at the track were much more enjoyable in short shorts and a vest. Thursday's track session was an interesting one. On paper 31 x 400m doesn't seem that appealing. I was running them off of 2 minutes. The quicker I ran them the more rest I got. I used this session as a opportunity to try and dial into "Barry pace". If I can manage 1m40 a lap at Barry I will be very happy.

Saturday I had an easy 18 miles planned, but with a 30 miler scheduled the following day I couldn't really face the prospect of plodding around. So I went against coach's recommendations and changed the session into some kind of fartlek session of a closed 1.3m loop. It was a good session alternating one fast loop with one slow loop. However, maybe it was part of the reason I jacked in today's big one. All a learning experience.

Next week will be a tough week and I really need to make sure I get the whole week done. This is because the following week will be a taper down for the Barry 40 miler. Whilst I want Barry to have limited impact on training I am realistic. Running 40 miles on the track will damage me. Sessions of note next week are a "to failure" session which I will provide more details on next week and a 37.5 mile super plod.

Last but not least, I got the call this week that I have been selected to represent England in the Anglo Celtic Plate. I am still awaiting details for the rest of the team but this is fantastic news.

Mileage so far: 39, 73, 102, 31, 29, 76

Week 5 of 13 (28th Jan - 3rd Feb)

WEEK 5
Mon - Rest / Holiday
Tue - Rest / Holiday
Wed - Rest / Holiday
Thu -Rest / Holiday
Fri - Rest / Holiday
Sat - Rest / Holiday
Sun - 29m (7:56 mpm)
TOTAL MILEAGE - 29

So not much of a suprise here, a week away skiing and a week away from running. I had planned to do at least some training whilst away but ended up just relaxing instead. My wife and I had a couple of hard days skiing and so that counted for something. We were also staying at 1950m altitude and my lungs feel bigger already! It all counts. The rest from running has given my tight calf some time to loosen off and today's 29 miler gave me no troubles in this respect. However the first day back out on the roads did batter the legs a little, to be expected after 10 days off running. 10 days wow, not pleasant to write when you are in the build up to 100km.

I guess part of the reason I didn't train whilst away is the great similarity between the challenges of running and the challenges of skiing. Skiing satisfies a number of those things running does. I'm not an expert skier so the challenge of working my way down a tricky black run without falling on my arse is akin to completing your first marathon without walking breaks (I think this took me 3 or 4 goes). Similarly going for an easy jog along the river Thames is similar to taking an easy blue run through the forests. I guess skiing gives me the same joy that running does, so whilst I was away the prospect of going outside for some skiing would always win against staying inside and running on the treadmill.

The travel time to the French Alps gave me some thinking time, I've started to pull together my full race / event calendar for the year but I will save the details for another post. I also looked into the prospect of joining the 100 Marathon Club and counted up the number of events I have to count towards membership. I'm currently on 20 eligible events. I need 50 for associate member and 100 for the full member. Think I still have a few years to go on that little project.

In my last post I mentioned that the England team would be announced shortly. I now understand that the team selection has been put forward to England Athletics and we can expect to find out tomorrow at the very earliest. We found this out on Thursday on our holiday, the previous days I had been absolutely glued to my blackberry to the great annoyance of my wife. Tomorrow I will be firmly attached to the blackberry yet again. I know I'm not the only one who this is affecting. However all this waiting will teach us a little a patience, something we will definitely need for all those laps of North Inch Park.

Training starts again serious tomorrow, Barry is not too far on the horizon.

Mileage so far: 39, 73, 102, 31, 29

Week 4 of 13 (21st - 27th Jan)

WEEK 4
Mon Lunch - Conditioning work
Mon PM- 5.5 miles easy, treadmill
Tue - Weights, Cleans, Overhead squat, Straight deadlifts, upper body conditioning
Wed - 15.75 miles (7:40 m/pm)
Thu AM - 6.2 miles (8m20 m/pm)
Thu PM - 4 miles (8m20 m/pm)
Fri - Rest
Sat - Rest
Sun - Rest
TOTAL MILEAGE - 31.5

Bonjour from the slopes of the Alps! Now on a ski holiday so the running stops for a week. Hurray!

After what was described as an "intimidating week" last week we can only say that the mighty have fallen. This week was always going to be a reduced mileage week and although I was going to try and squeeze in as much running as possible, the loss of Saturday and Sunday for my ski break was always going to hamper the mileage.

The ski holiday couldn't really have come at a better time, my right calf has been tightening up for a week or so. So much so that on Thursday's planned 9 mile run I had to cut it short and finish with only a 4 miler. It certainly wasn't debilitating but it was starting to feel like it was going to become a problem so I cut short rather than plough through. A running imbalance has given me problems with the calf before. The first time this happened it took me 3 months to get over it, the last time it happened it took me only 3 days. So I'm hoping experience has shown me how to manage the niggle. The problem with Thursday's 9 miler is that it was a point to point, office to home run so I needed to get the missus (superstar!!) to come pick me up whilst I stood in the Shell garage drinking a luke warm vanilla latte and looking a complete tool in my fluorescent kit and skin tight leggings.

This wasn't the only thing that didn't go to plan this week. On Tuesday I had planned to run in the evening but really wasn't feeling it. Outside was snow and ice, which is no fun, inside is a treadmill which is no fun either. I was driving to the gym and with about 1 minute before the turn home I had a change of mind and decided that the sofa and a bowl of cereal was indeed a more appealing option. Must be a little run down, motivation flagging and a small niggle.

So I think the less said about the rest of the week the better. Next week, mileage will again be low. A nice week of active rest on the slopes should see the fitness stay in place. I have packed my XC spikes though...planning to try and do at least one outside run. Might be tricky as I'm half way up a mountain but the  slope from our appartment to the main slopes looks perfect for hill reps :-)

Next week will be quite exciting as I am expecting the England team for the Anglo Celtic Plate to be finalised and communicated, so I will await an e-mail or phone call with either the good or bad news. I will share the news as soon as I know. We have now booked our accommodation and flights for the trip to Perth. The whole family is coming up which is fantastic. I thought it would be quite a tough sell to be honest, "hey geys, fancy travelling all the way up to Scotland and watch your little/big brother/son run around a park for 8 hours. All you need to do is stay there all day and make sure I'm well fed and watered and I will probably be miserable at best". They all said "yes".

Mileage so far: 39, 73, 102, 31

Week 2 of 13 (7th Jan > 13th Jan)

WEEK 2
Mon - 11 miles easy (8m28 pm)
Tue - Track session 9100, 2300, 1800, 1400, 100, 800, 500
Wed - 7.5 miles trail (7m57 pm)
Thu - Track session 22 x 450m (30 sec walk rest), c. 1m40 per 450m.
Fri - Rest
Sat - Surrey League XC - Div 2 Mitcham Common - 4th Overall
Sun - 30 miles (7m53 pm)
TOTAL MILEAGE - 73.3

Last week went so badly that whilst I did actually write the blog I didn't really actively publicise it. After spending 5 days ill and 5 days really lethargic I was starting to get a little annoyed and feeling negative about the whole thing. The lethargy of last week probably wasn't helped by my new year's resolution to give up caffeine during the week so I am certainly partly to blame.

Anyway as the old saying goes what a difference a week can make. The return to a full working week and the routine that brings has made a lot of different. A solid if not spectacular week. Having had two good track sessions during the week I feel a whole lot more positive and this running business. November and December had me doing quite a lot of mileage and adding weights and conditioning to my program. This has left me feeling I've lost a little bit of zip, so these sessions where the confidence booster I needed. Now whilst these sessions are particularly speedy, they represent some much faster running than I have been doing and I handled them comfortably. I believe sessions like Tuesday's will form a fundamental part of my build up. I really enjoy these monster sessions on the track and this is probably going to help me with my preparation race at the Barry 40 miler.

Saturday saw another decent performance in the XC league, and whilst it is dangerous to draw comparisons to the runners around you it is nice to see I beat a number of solid marathoners. Maybe I'm just good at XC, but I somehow how doubt that. I only run up hills once every 4 weeks! But pleasing to see my summer speed hasn't totally eluded me.

During today's run an attractive young cyclist came last me and said "Hey, what are you doing around here?", she stopped to say hello. I didn't recognise her as she had helmet and glasses on. I apologised for not knowing her at all and it did indeed turn out to be a case of mistaken identity. As I ran off I joked in my head she was hitting on me (look I was over 20 miles into the run). However, on returning home and seeing the state of me covered in snot, energy gels and over bodily fluids I am convinced that was not the case. Really who looks good after 4 hours of pounding on the road.

Next week is looking a cracker, mileage will be big (for me at least) and the track work will be fast (for me at least).

Mileage so far: 39, 73
Weight (kg): 68.6, 68.5

Anglo Celtic Plate 2011 100km

Ok guys, this is long... But there are a lot of miles and hence a lot to talk about! 

The Course:
42 laps on a 2.38km loop in North Inch Park, Perth. Basically flat, with a tiny ramp on one part of the loop. You notice these things after 25+ laps. This may sound boring, but I can truly say, that is wasn't at all. When you are suffering badly/concentrating hard, you don't really have time to take in the scenery!

No Garmins/GPS allowed on the course, which meant I needed to use a bit of the old mental arithmetic.

I also had a handler to look after to me, an experience runner called Chris Finill (worth a google), who was also looking after Paul Fernandez. He would be there each lap to help me out. Chris was helped out by Andy Smith, who was looking after England's other runners (George Dayantis and Allen Smalls). As there was no chip timing, at the end of each lap a designated lap counter would acknowledge the fact you finished the lap (no one really wants to run 43 laps do they)

The Plan:
Pacing: I thought I was capable of somewhere around the 7h20-7h30 marker. So after a number of conversions with the various other runners I put the plan in place. I would run 10m30 per lap (7m06 per mile pace) which would give me 7h21 finished. I thought I could probably get to 70km at this pace and then just accept that the split times would slow, but hopefully not too much.

Nutrition: I planned to take 1 gel every two laps, and powerade as and when it was needed. This is where the handler was vital. Getting all my stuff ready (he had details of my plans) and feeding me as the plan required.

The Start:
It was cold and misty at the start. Probably an appropriate way to start the day. The race started at 7am and this was fairly relaxed. Just like a Sunday morning run. I thought some of the runners might go off a bit faster but everyone was pretty relaxed.I let most of the men in the International race go off in front of me. I kept them in sight, but didn’t want to let myself get dragged into something silly.

Lap         Lap Time             Lap Pace

1              00:10:40               00:07:13

2              00:10:40               00:07:13

3              00:10:20               00:06:59

4              00:10:40               00:07:13

5              00:10:20               00:06:59

6              00:10:30               00:07:06

7              00:10:30               00:07:06

8              00:10:30               00:07:06

Ave           00:10:31              00:07:07 

These lap times are unofficial (in general to the nearest 10secs). But from the first 8 laps (11.8miles) you can see I was bang on target. Nutritional plan was going well, getting a gel every 2 laps and powerade every 4. I had also started to develop a ‘rapport’ this my lap counter. Every time I ran completed the lap I would point at my counter, and say “You’re my boy”, which made most of the lap counters laugh! All volunteers out there for over 10 hours, I have massive respect for.

The Push:
I’ve called this section ‘The Push’, at the time it didn’t feel like I was pushing hard but looking at the lap times, maybe I just increased the pace a little bit. During this stage I got lapped for the first time, Allen Smalls the eventual second place runner was going strong. Looked like he might be on for sub 7 hours (i.e. sub 6m45 per mile). Nice guy we said hello, briefly, he was running a too quickly for me to keep up for a chat.  I got lapped by a few others here.  Irishman Dan Doherty asked how I was feeling as he lapped me, I said “Great, just not as fast as you boys”

Lap         Lap Time             Lap Pace

 9            00:10:20               00:06:59

10           00:10:20               00:06:59

11           00:10:10               00:06:53

12           00:10:40               00:07:13

13           00:10:20               00:06:59

14           00:10:30               00:07:06

15           00:10:50               00:07:20

16           00:10:17               00:06:57

17           00:10:28               00:07:05

18           00:10:15               00:06:56

19           00:10:20               00:06:59

20           00:10:25               00:07:03

21           00:10:15               00:06:56
Ave         00:10:24              00:07:02

The Struggle:
My demise was soon to come and I would start to get lapped multiple times by the top runners and overtaken by some runners that really shouldn’t have been overtaking me. The 50km race had just started so we started to see some new runners on the course.

I hit this bad patch (well 2 hours 30 mins of suffering) around 10-15km earlier than I had expected.  This really made me question whether or not I had the ability to finish at all. All I could about was that at the pace I was running I would have at least 4h30 of suffering. I didn’t know if I had the mental capacity to do it. I was running very very slow. This was a very tough time for me. All I wanted to do was take a walking break, compose myself and get running again. However, when you have the England vest on, its very difficult to stop running. It’s the last thing you want to do and you feel like you are a total failure and disgrace (in hindsight its not really that bad, but that is how it feels at the time when you are already a little fragile).

The race was a team event with the top three runners scoring for the country (the aggregate time taken to work out who wins the Anglo Celtic Plate). I was sitting in third for our team, which meant even more pressure to keep on going.

In the end I succumbed and took a couple of walking breaks. Probably lap 28 was where I took the most prolonged break…lots of talking to myself out loud here. “Compose yourself, compose yourself” Didn’t really help!!! Sorry if you heard me muttering to myself as you went by.

Lap         Lap Time             Lap Pace

22           00:10:30               00:07:06

23           00:10:40               00:07:13

24           00:10:45               00:07:16

25           00:11:14               00:07:36

26           00:11:46               00:07:57

27           00:12:05               00:08:10

28           00:14:10               00:09:35

29           00:13:10               00:08:54

30           00:12:25               00:08:24

31           00:12:45               00:08:37

32           00:12:30               00:08:27

33           00:12:40               00:08:34

34           00:12:55               00:08:44

35           00:13:30               00:09:08

Ave         00:12:13              00:08:16

My banter with the lap counters was starting to reduce. I was generally grunting as the other runners went pace.

The Finish:
With about 7 laps to go, some miraculous happened. I “ran through the wall”. I took on around 300ml of flat coke, and literally went mental. I just started running again. My stride length returned and I was running with at least some kind of form.  I now started to retake all those people and even lap some of my other main competitors. This felt amazing. Looking at the splits I wasn’t really going that fast (7m40 pace) but geez after 7h00 of running, to turn the legs at all is special. I was pushing hard to the finish, but I was still scared, I still thought the wheels might come off again. Even when I reached two laps to go, I was still worried. With 1 to go, I was still worried and just wanted to get round to the end. But Chris said, “Harry, I want a fast lap” and I couldn’t really argue with that and opened up (well that's what it felt like)! Unfortunately I don’t have the official split for the lap and because the lap times are only to the nearest 10secs it works out my last lap was over 13minutes. But it was definitely faster.

About 15meters to go, I grabbed the England flag and burst across the line finishing in 7h51m21. Less emotional than I thought I would be after all that suffering. But I gave Chris a big hug, it was touching…but I couldn’t have done it without him to help me out.

Lap         Lap Time             Lap Pace

36           00:11:35               00:07:50

37           00:11:30               00:07:47

38           00:11:20               00:07:40

39           00:11:20               00:07:40

40           00:11:20               00:07:40

41           00:11:30               00:07:47

Ave         00:11:26              00:07:44

All in all a great weekend, and to be honest I feel I could write a lot more about the race and the weekend, travelling up to Scotland with the team. But I figure this is long enough for now. A great experience and I look forward to the next time I get a have a go at the distance. 7h52 isn’t disgraceful and I am happy with this as a benchmark to work upon. But I think I could have run maybe 7h30-7h35 yesterday had I run the race different and done a few things differently with the nutrition. But for a first go there is a lot of uncertainty, and this was a great learning experience.

Finally big congratulations to all the other runners, 100km is a long way to run whatever speed you do it in. The volunteers as well, I expect they just as tired at the end of the day so massive thanks to them!

He's struggling...

THE END - Sorry that was long...

Race Your Pace Half Marathon

Bit of a strange first blog post from me. This is quite possibly the first race that I have used exclusively for training. Admittedly there have been races where I have not been operating at my best, but even those races I always thought I would go and give it a good shot.

Having run 40km the day before I knew producing anything fast over the half marathon would be tricky, and also slightly dangerous! Racing the day after this kind of session is asking for injury. So I ended up saying in my head I would aim for sub 1h20 and knew that this would represent a tough workout.

The course for the 'Race Your Pace Half Marathon' isn't particularly interesting. It is 4 and a bit laps of Dorney Lake, the venue for the 2012 Olympic rowing. There are a number of Triathlons and other running races races held here throughout the year, which means over the past few years I have clocked up a number of laps down at the Lake (it's also part of a few of my training loops). I started the first lap at a brisk pace, but was clocking above the pace required for 1h20. I was planning on speeding up as I went along and to negative split the run. Laps 2 and 3, went as planned with a very noticeable speed up, however it wasn't coming easy.  With 3 and a bit laps done (i.e. one lap to go) I was just over an hour, and this was a hour of good quality running. I wasn't suffering majorly but I was definately working. I decided at this stage to 'jog in', I knew the next 5km at this pace would hurt me and I decided today was not a day to suffer, I would save the suffering for another day (i.e. the 100km I've got coming up). I accepted that the 1 hour of running represented a good workout and proceeded with my warm down, which was finishing the race and added an extra 30mins jogging on the end.

When I slowed down, it felt like I was running around a 7min/mile pace, however the fact I was in a race meant even though I was trying to go slow there was something holding me back as I comfortably hit 6m40 per mile. It seems as soon as I finished the race I settled easily into 7m15 per mile pace for the reminder of my warm down!!! I guess I'm a little competitive...

My finishing time was 1:22:25, not fast, but for training and with 40km in the legs the day before. I was happy. Next major race the Anglo-Celtic Plate 100km, but I might throw in a 10km for good measure.