Target 26.2 - First Timer Steve's Journey to Paris

just sitting down to some bacon and mushroom rolls and thought of you...enjoy your rest day

Hi Steve, got a few mates who swear by compression clothing. A couple of years ago I went into sweatshop to buy some and got talked out of it by one of their specialists who said I didn't need it and it would be a waste of money!! Happily walked away £200 to the good.

I will see how the 5 of you find it and may reconsider! Also, be interested in what Sam and Steve think of it?

Good luck this coming year Steve, looking forward to the mileage ramping up???

Training - Week 2

Friday - 4 MILE STEADY (8:30 - 9:10 MINS PER MILE)

So yesterday I was scheduled for a 4 mile steady run... Had a seriously busy morning and seemed to spend the vast majority of it driving up, down, around and across Essex.

We had family around in the afternoon who we haven't seen in quite a while so they didn't end up leaving until fairly late after a good old catch up. I was desperate to get out of the door all day so it was a bit of a test for my patience (not one of my strengths, I'll be honest...!).

I managed to get out for my run a shade before a quarter to 10 at night (hence why I am posting about it today!)... As it was a Friday evening, it did make things a little interesting as I had to dodge the occasional shouting drunk and the people I was running round on the pavements did seem to be weaving around a little more than usual. Can't think why. I altered my originally planned route somewhat to avoid going anywhere near the town centre!

I felt a little sluggish through the first mile, mainly as a result of all the lovely food my sister and her husband had prepared and of which I may have over-indulged in just a little. The bolognese for dinner and the wensleydale with cranberries in it for tea were particularly fine Having said that, my sister roasted up a load of veg so I did feel quite healthy with a plate full of aubergine, butternut squash, peppers, potatoes, courgette...

Once I was fully up to speed, I began to feel better and better and finished off really strong and desperately trying to slow down to keep myself at the appropriate pace!!

The four miles took, in total, 34mins 7secs meaning a pace of 8mins 31.75secs, which was pretty pleasing.

The laps broke down as follows:

Mile 1: 08:46

Mile 2: 08:44

Mile 3: 08:29

Mile 4: 08:06

I'm hoping Sam doesn't tell me off for mile 4 - clearly I was working out in my head my overall pace the whole way round the run and I knew that by running 08:06, I would still fall within an overall pace below 08:30... Honest guv'.

So I have a rest day today then off for an off-road 10 mile run Sunday... then on to week 3!

Well done steve, a lot of people would have postponed the run to the follow day, rest day for me as well but I would rather be out for a run, tomorrow it's 12 or 13 miles slow run, can't wait

Evening Steve! You're making me feel hungry describing all of that lovely food!! (Goes off to raid fridge. AGAIN)

Well the panto was actually more fun than I was expecting! I went with my brother-in-law's family who are, it must be said, a lovely bunch and it was great to go in a big group. The kids all loved it (including the big kids). It was Peter Pan but done... well... essex style. Wendy's mum was dressed in a sequined red velour tracksuit and at the end they got the whole audience up to dance Gangnam Style. I wish I was making this up.

We then all went out for a meal and Jack, my 8 year old son, absolutely destroyed an adult-sized chicken platter which had more meat on it than I usually eat in a week! He even had room for desert afterwards. I was so proud 

Seren - Shhh! You know I'm on a ban! Don't be mean...

DS2 - Good to hear from you! I'll be honest, even though it was only a quick run I really did feel like it helped a lot with posture and so on. The guy in the Asics store was raving about it and I'll admit that I wasn't too sure myself but it was a good start so we'll see!

I'll let you know how it goes once I'm brave enough to wear it out on a longer run in daylight...

SC - Thought if I missed a run for a good excuse, that'll make it easier to miss a run in future for a bad excuse! I'm on a 10 mile long run tomorrow so let me know how you get on with it. How are you going to approach it? On/off road? Music/no music?

Sarah - I've missed him! Glad he's back online Lol the slower running definitely has it's place - I come out of those runs with so much energy it's untrue and it sets you up really well for the harder sessions... Definitely worth a go

RRR - Do you deserve food treats after dressing your sister up all in pink and posting pics of her on here??

Cheers Paul, I really am realising the worth of the long, slow runs. The paces we were asked to run by Sam at bootcamp really showed me that I'd been doing all of my long runs way too fast and I am finding them really refreshing! As you say, they make the quicker runs easier as you aren't so fatigued so win win!

Hope the run went alright - how did you get on? What sort of pace were you aiming for?

I haven't used any gels etc yet... I have used them in the past at my last half marathon - I didn't use them at the half marathon before that and they really did seem to help me through it so definitely planning on incorporating them into my training this time around. Now my long runs are going to be 10 mile plus, I'll have to start taking a look around! Bacon flavour is of course the preferred option

Training - Week 2

Sunday - 10 MILE LONG RUN (10:10 - 10:30 MINS PER MILE)

Today was a 10 mile long run and I went to the seafront to do it. Plenty of grass to run on and, when I needed to run on the pavements, they were nice and wide and the whole ten miles was nice and flat - pretty much the perfect place to go for a run!

My legs were a little sore and tight today pre-run...

I must confess that after the panto yesterday whilst going to get some cash from the machine before going for a meal, and possibly because we had just seen a panto and were feeling somewhat childish, my brother-in-law and I indulged in a bit of a race across the town centre which turned into a full-blown 200m sprint at absolute full pelt. Without any kind of warm up.

Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to take my Garmin with me to the panto so I can't give you any definite stats for my impromptu speed session but I can tell you that I am fairly certain that I reached an appreciable portion of the speed of sound.

Despite the tightness in my legs, I headed off out for my run (after a thorough warm up and both static and active stretching, of course). It was one of those where I started in broad daylight and finished in absolute pitch black so it was a little strange. My legs felt fine after probably only half a mile or less so I wasn't too worried and, apart from feeling a little leggy during mile 7, I didn't notice any problems.

I did the 10 miles in 1hr 41mins 49secs, which works out at a pace of 10mins 11secs so pretty much bang on for the upper end of the required pace. Again, I was really pleased with my pacing and a little surprised at myself. For all my other runs I have been slavishly checking the watch every few seconds to keep an eye on my pace and to check I'm doing things right throughout but, ss today was a longer, slow run, I deliberately tried not to do that and just wanted to judge it more myself and run at a pace that felt comfortable and "slow".

Having just checked out the paces for each mile, I am very pleasantly surprised at how consistent I was without relying on GPS so much...

The miles broke down as follows:

Mile 1: 10:10

Mile 2: 10:14

Mile 3: 10:09

Mile 4: 10:19

Mile 5: 10:30

Mile 6: 10:21

Mile 7: 10:19

Mile 8: 10:06

Mile 9: 10:09

Mile 10: 09:25

You may be noticing a theme here with my final mile on each of my runs - that really is something I need to work on! I just seem to find myself getting towards the end of  a run and I seem to think I'm approaching the end of a race or something. My new year's resolution? To stick with the pacing all the way through the final mile...

I am feeling my left hamstring this evening. There has been a very slight twinge there on my last couple of runs which has been so minor that I have ignored it but it has definitely kicked up a notch this evening.

Will have to see how it goes. I have a 4 mile jog scheduled tomorrow - it is a slow recovery run so should be ok but I have instructions from Katie at Runners World to  take it easy and see how it feels in the morning... so I guess I had better do what I am told!

Week 3 is fast approaching. To save everyone having to scroll back through all the past posts on here to find the plan, here is what Sam has in store for me for the next week...

Monday 4 MILE JOG

Tuesday REST (hangover acceptable)

Wednesday 1 MILE COMFORTABLE then 3X ACCELERATION STRIDES then 5X 400M AT 6:50 - 7 MINS PER MILE

Thursday REST

Friday 5 MILES FAST (suggest structuring this as 1 mile easy, 3 miles fast, 1 mile easy)

Saturday REST

Sunday 10 MILE LONG RUN: 5 AT 10:05, 5 SPEEDING UP TO 09:35

MILAGE: 23 MILES

Given the hamstring situation and depending on how I feel in the morning, I may swap Monday and Tuesday... let's see what the morning brings

Hey Jen, how are you?

Haha how strange is that??! Can't believe you beat me by six hundredths of a second! Must try harder...

Have fun running with your daughter - assuming the hamstring is ok, I may take Jack out with my on his bike tomorrow - can't wait til he's old enough to come out with me for a run

So what are your plans for new year?

Decided to do an off road run today up to the TV mast on the outskirts of Inverness, turned out to be 10 miles in total with just over half being off road.  I don't listen to music while I run, for me it would be unwise as I'm deaf in one ear.  The run was hilly and extremely muddy one too and as a result was slow just over 2 hours

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/255711656

Hope the hammy is ok good pacing as well, 

Popped on to wish you a happy new year, Bacon Sarnie.  Looks like your early weeks of training are going great so you should look forward to a great 2013.

Steve,

Great long run, and don't worry about speeding up for the last mile- I thought everyone did that!!

Hope hamstring holds up this week, and have a great New Year at the party. Will check in later when get back

Happy New Year Bacon Steve! The run sounded good! I headed to the beach for mine too!! And found a fiver! Win!

Hey Steve.....looks like its all going well!!!!.....how do you get your paces up for each mile of your run on the garmin....( post run..) ?? I am a total biff when it comes to boxes and things..!!....

Check you out Sarah....a fiver....!! amazing!!.....

Happy New Year Steve