Weekend of Garmin 405

I decided to purchase a Garmin this week as thought it's about time I drill down a bit more on my training. With GPS and a virtual training partner this should be helpfull in my goal of breaking 3.15 for a marathon this year. I went out Saturday in the afternoon at 4 o'clock - was very hot - I ran 10.55 miles with a 361 ft climb, I set the pace maker on 7.30 min miles and came in with average 7.27 min miles so was happy with that and the Garmin helps you track each mile to see how your doing. I woke up Sunday after a night watching of champions league round a friends, I was running with my friend Ash this morning, we set the pacer to 8 min miles to match his marathon 2 weeks ago - (3.34) we ended up running 16.14 miles in 2.12.21 which isn't a bad effort considering it was very hot. That takes me to 56.5 miles for the week which is not too bad...the achiles is playing up now so need to be carefull with South downs marathon in 3 weeks - 5200ft of climb so should be a great test. Ash, Tom and I entered the Amsterdam marathon this weekend which is in October - it will be Tom's first marathon, my first big marathon (15,000 entrants) and a great chance of a p.b as the course is v.flat so really aiming for a good time in Amsterdam and we are staying for a night out as well to make it a bit of a trip. I found the start of this week tough after the alcohol over the weekend but now I feel I am back to my fit self and am loving running again.

Sunday run

Untitled by petegoldring at Garmin Connect - Details

Essex Marathon 2010

Today I was running the Essex Marathon after a week of cycling 360 miles in Morocco. I flew back yesterday and was very tired and lacked a lot of energy, I entered this marathon a while ago as my mate Ash was running his first marathon...waking up this morning I knew it would be tough but couldn't let Ash down, he picked me up at 8.30 -we arrived at the course at 9.30 and were greeted by Ash's Mum Sally and boyfriend Kev - quick photo and we were off. I was aiming for 3.15, I ran the first mile in 6.32 which is far too quick...after 2 miles I felt terrible and was thinking why am I running this after the week I have had, I battled on and pulling out was crossing my mind which never normally does in a marathon. I got to 13 miles in 1.37 which was perfect for 3.15 but then hit a wall at 17, Sally and Kev were riding their bikes around the course so I saw them and they said Ash was close behind so I slowed down and he caught me up, I ran a mile with him and had a release, ended up finishing in 3.26.43...course was very undulating...I lacked a lot of energy today and was in no fit state to run a marathon but happy with that time, a p.b for me...with the right preparation 3.15 is definitely achievable.Ash finished in 3.34.15 which is a great effort for a first marathon, I am very proud of him...now siting here writing this I am very tired and looking forward to a few days of no running or cycling.