Monday 23 May 2011

Interval Training

Interval training is the only way to get quicker and tempo work. After chatting with my physio Nigel, he said I should be doing intervals at a speed of 16km per hour which is 6 min miles for 400m with 30 second breaks then try and do a tempo run on a Wednesday/Thursday at a quicker pace. This will get my times down, I am reading a book at the moment about how to train for your first ultra. It talks about all the basics, back to back long runs, what to eat, drink, etc. It also mentions interval training, you don't have to do it when training for an ultra. I believe it increases fitness as gets the heart rate up and I think as it makes you quicker it will help you run an ultra quicker. Even though a 100 mile race is completely different to running an ultra I still think it will help if you do intervals once a week. Plus adding in interval work and tempo work mixes it up a bit and keeps it more exciting.Today I ran 1km warm up then 15 x 400m intervals at speed 16km per hour with 30 second breaks, it does take it out of you but feels like you're really pushing yourself. Chatting to James today, he is on his medication at the moment and is off to Comrades on Friday to watch then kicks off his Grand Slam with Western States at the end of June - I hope he can start this and complete the other 3 races - Vermont, Leadville and Wasatch - he deserves it and his been out for too long. Will be good to go to Vermont with him as well. Just a bit of info on the Grand Slam for you, James is one of 22 people attempting the Grand slam http://www.run100s.com/gs11.htm and his the youngest, the only guy from the UK as well. So it's 4 of the hilliest 100 milers in the states within a 11 week period which sounds mental. Western States - 25th June, Vermont - 16th July, Leadville - 20th August and Wasatch 9th September. I would like to attempt this one day but the cost implications, lotteries and actually doing it makes it a big thing to do but I believe if you want something you can do anything. If James gets through this it will be a great achievement, especially considering he hasn't been running for the last 4 months.

Sunday 22 May 2011

This week - 55 days to go to Vermont

This week has been very productive running wise. I wanted to put some good mileage in. I also got an email on Wednesday saying that I got into Vermont 100 - http://www.vermont100.com/ which was brilliant news which I have been waiting for since I got back from Umstead. I am so excited about this race, it's 14,000 ft climb and hot so will be more challenging than Umstead 100 which is 8000 ft climbs. This week I ended up running 60 miles with 2 days off. This week looked like this http://www.attackpoint.org/log.jsp/user_8677. I ran most lunch times, after work, and 17.6 miles today hungover which was good. Coming up I have the Northants 35 miler, South Downs marathon and maybe the Southend half. That will get me through June and then taper 2nd week in July leading up to Vermont.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Vermont 100

Today I found out that I have got into the Vermont 100 on the 16th July. This has made my summer, the race is 8 weeks on Saturday. This race is going to brilliant, it has 14,000 ft of elevation and will be pretty hot. I booked the flights today so game on!!!James is running it as well as part of his Grand Slam so should be an amazing trip.

Here is the website if you want a browse http://www.vermont100.com/

Sunday 8 May 2011

Knowing when to run and not to run

Today I ran the Essex marathon. Going into today I had a bad cough and bad hay fever plus I had run the Three Thorts marathon last week. I woke up this morning and drove to Halstead to start the race, I got it in my head even though not feeling the best I could run a p.b today - sub 3.13. The Essex marathon was where I ran my first marathon 2 years ago, I stood on the line today running my 3rd Essex marathon and 17th marathon (13 marathons, 2 x 45 milers, 1 x 50 miler and a 100 miler). On the drive up there it was raining and cloudy which I though was good as would make it cooler, when I stood on the start line the sun came out and it started to get hot unfortunately. I ran the first 9 miles at a good pace - all in the 6s and early 7 min miles then when I got to mile 10 I blew up and had to walk/jog for 3 miles. I wasn't enjoying it and got it in my head I was going to DNF. I was walking through aid stations saying where can I pull out and people said I could pull out at mile 14. When I got to mile 14 I started running, I thought in my head I am not pulling out, I am here now so I will finish. I struggled through to the end - jogging, running and walking for the last 12 miles. I came in with a time of 3.37.44. I learnt a lot today, when running consecutive week marathons you need to use them as training runs as you're never going to have the energy for a p.b and when not feeling good just don't run. I am sitting here writing this and I am happy as I finished today as could have easily pulled out which would have p8ssed me off. So breaking 3 hours 5 weeks after Umstead 100 was a silly idea. I will have to look to do that on another marathon this year or even next year. My main priorities this year now are getting into Vermont 100 in July and completing Caesars Camp 100 in October. Both these races will give me points to qualify for UTMB 100 next year and I can go through the entry process for Badwater.
Garmin Report - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84355789

Monday 2 May 2011

Three Forts Marathon

Three forts was my first marathon back after 100 miler. This was 4 weeks after 100 miler so I didn't know what to expect.Pre race I was talking to my mate James and he was saying I could run a good time there, he won it last year in 3.13. I somehow got this in my head which was very stupid of me. Drove to the race, hour and half to Worthing which wasn't bad, was a sunny day. Arrived at the marathon,was quite a small one with a field of 240 odd. I was chatting to a guy on the start line who was doing his 2nd ever marathon and had googled James from last years marathon and now followed his blog. The marathon started at 10am, I ran the first 2 miles in 2nd place, then it hit me as we approached a steep hill and had to walk the hill. This is when I realised I did not have it in me today. I carried on running by about mile 8 I was in bits and it was getting hot. A DNF did actually cross my mind with another 19 miles to go as was 27 miles long. This was a very hilly course, the first 11 miles was into wind and then the 2nd half was a cross wind. In the end I manage to finish in 4.09.50 http://www.threefortsmarathon.org.uk/3forts-results-full-a.asp. What I learnt yesterday was you need time to recover after a 100 miler as I was lacking lot of energy, so it was a good learning curve and a good training run. I am suppose to be doing the Essex marathon on Sunday but I will see how I feel on Saturday.I want to run it as it's quite close to me but will have to see how I feel. I have just had my first ice bath which should hopefully help the legs recover. Looking at yesterday's results 3.25 won it so it proves how good James' time was last year.