madasaboxoffrogs

Sunday 3rd October: Loch Ness Marathon

2010-10-04T22:20:00.002+01:00

Run: 26.2 miles
Time: 4 hours 12 minutes 50 seconds

Day 112 - Saturday 2nd October: Last run

2010-10-02T13:35:00.001+01:00

Run: 1.58 miles
Time: 16m14s

Just a gentle jog round the block from my B&B to loosen up my legs, ready for tomorrow's 4 1/2 hour run. That's it, all my training is done. Time for pasta, then a walk down to Bught Park to register, and go to the pasta party!

Day 111 - Friday 1st October: Route familiarisation

2010-10-01T22:08:00.001+01:00

I was invited to visit the Loch Ness RNLI lifeboat station today and Jo, my friend (and fellow nessmarathon runner), offered to drive me down to Drumnadrochit. Having been shown round, which was very interesting, she suggested we drive back the long way via Fort Augustus so I could see Sunday's marathon route... so she took me all the way around the Loch and back to Inverness along the other side. This was also great, albeit a little worrying, because now I've had the chance to see how "undulating" it is! Ok, so it won't come as such a shock to me come Sunday, so I guess that's a good thing!

Day 110 - Thursday 30th September: Rest

2010-09-30T17:38:00.001+01:00

Day 109 - Wednesday 29th September: Sutton Courtenay 20 mins

2010-09-29T18:20:00.001+01:00

Run: 2.46 miles
Time: 20 minutes 59 seconds

I dunno what happened to my Garmin at lunchtime. I stood outside for a couple of minutes chatting to Sue from the coffee cart about last night's Chelsea game before I set off, so it should have had time to locate me. It was raining, so the cloud cover was quite thick, maybe that confused it?

Anyhoo, a last "run" before the marathon (apart from a very very gentle jog on Saturday), calls for 20 minutes. I opt to run up to Sutton Courtenay round past the shops and back to work. Round about 2½ miles, so will be a fraction over the time, but not by much. I get the benefit of pushing myself that little bit further without overdoing it.

So my 16 week training plan is almost at an end. In that time I've run 402 miles. I've Cycled 94 miles. I've swum over 15k (600+ lengths). I've rowed nearly 4 miles and done about 2000 ab crunches (sit-ups). This has totalled about 100 hours of training. 62 runs, 27 classes, 4 gym sessions, 14 swims, 7 cycle rides and just 24 days of rest.

And if I get into next year's London Marathon, I'll be starting it all over again in December!

Day 108 - Tuesday 28th September: Swim

2010-09-28T21:45:00.002+01:00

Swim: 1000 metres

Time: 30 minutes

I delayed my Monday swim because of yesterday's unpleasantness at the dentist, and chose to do a simple 40 lengths this evening. Although it wasn't long before I wanted to up this to 50! No, no, a plan's a plan. I don't want to overdo it this week, I've a marathon to run on Sunday. The pool isn't too busy, but the main section does have a few people swimming up & down slowly. I head for the fast lane, even though there is one swimmer there who appears to be having some coaching. Hopefully we won't get in each other's way.

It's about 7.15pm and I set off in the fast lane. I pause at the end to adjust my nose-clip, then back for length two, kicking off for length three without stopping. Then the same pattern again. On the third pair of lengths, the other swimmer is at the end, so instead of pausing, I return to start length six straight away, and then think, why not swim all lengths without a pause now? The other swimmer eases past me as she does her fast length, but is waiting at the end getting some more tips from her coach. I touch the end, and kick off again back for my seventh.

Round about length 35 I lose count. Was that 36? Did I miss out 34? I remember counting to 33, am I on 37 now? I call it 35, and if I end up doing 42 lengths, so be it. I'll still call it 40. I surprise myself at how easy it seems to swim up and down, without pausing for a breather every other length. This is great. I'm so looking forward to spending a good 1½ hours in the pool in a couple of weeks, to see if I can swim 100 lengths in one session. No doubt I'll be back to the odd pause again now and then...

Thirty minutes later, and I reach the kilometre - 40 lengths. I even sprint the last one as usual, alternating my breathing after every third stroke, instead of after the fourth. And when I get out, I don't feel too tired either. If I don't get into London next April (we find out next week!) and I can't find another suitable spring marathon, I might look at a triathlon instead? Maybe...

Day 107 - Monday 27th September: Milton Half Hour

2010-09-27T19:49:00.001+01:00

Run: 3.33 miles
Time: 29 minutes 18 seconds

At last! A third run day in a row. All these rest days towards the end of the marathon training feel very odd, having got into the habit of running so much. I guess it was all new to me when I did it for London, but this time round it's a struggle to not be running at least every other day.

A gentle half hour is called for, so I head out on a 3ish mile route, and even this feels odd, as I miss the 5 mile version of this lunchtime loop. I run it steadily and comfortably in an 8m50s pace for the first couple of miles, speeding up a little though mile 3 to the end.

I was planning to swim this evening too, but having had a filling this afternoon my face was still half asleep, and I really didn't feel up to it. Maybe I'll go tomorrow instead.

Day 106 - Sunday 26th September: Charney 9

2010-09-26T18:33:00.002+01:00

Run: 9.02 miles
Time: 1 hour 18 minutes 29 seconds

I forgot to say that yesterday's couple of miles meant that I've notched up 1900 miles since I began running almost three years ago. That milestone comes next weekend...

Today sees the last "long" run of my 16-week training plan. When I did this the week before London - I ran about 8 miles up and down every single footpath in Stanford. Today, I fancy getting out in the countryside, and up the distance to cover 80 minutes of running. It soon transpires that my legs have set the pace at a fraction under 9-minute-miles, which feels easy enough given the short distance today.

I divert out to Hatford to give me an extra third of a mile, and if I take the slightly longer route through Charney Bassett, past the pub, then I'll only have about half a mile to make up when I get back to Stanford to clock up 9 miles in the allotted time. I eat up the miles, and the pace feels good. There was a strong wind against me on the open fields towards Hatford, but it's not too cold. I wonder about packing gloves to take to Inverness next week.

As I leave Charney, I reach the halfway point in under 40 minutes. Perhaps I should be taking it a little easier today? No, I think I'm ok. The "intermediate" training plan that came with my race information pack this week (a bit late to start using it with about 12 days to go to the marathon!!) suggested a Half Marathon and 10k races for the last two weeks of training. I did the Half Marathon last weekend, and today's run is certainly less stressful than running a sub 8-minute-mile pace that I'd be doing had I entered a 10k. Next time maybe?

Back to today, and I'm on the home stretch now. I know I'm going to do a negative split, and if I wanted to I could up the pace to a 10k speed, but I settle for a more gentle increase in effort. Back in the village, and I run round to the church to reach the set distance, although I still make it back home in under the 80 planned minutes.

Job done, time to relax. Just a couple of very short runs left before I head to the far north of Scotland to attempt my third Marathon, and hope to set a new PB...

Day 105 - Saturday 25th September: Gentle 2 mile jog

2010-09-25T19:16:00.000+01:00

Run: 2.00 miles
Time: 17 minutes 34 seconds

Just a gentle couple of miles this evening. The plan called for 10 minutes, but that hardly seemed getting my running shoes on, so I did a gentle jog round the outer lap of the village, which was spot on 2 miles.

Day 104 - Friday 24th September: Research

2010-09-24T21:28:00.002+01:00

Today's another day off, so pretty much involves watching Run Fatboy Run on Film4, whilst drinking a can of Stella. And eating lots of pasta...

Day 103 - Thursday 23rd September: Rest

2010-09-23T20:21:00.000+01:00

The first of another two rest days. Time to plug the charity again!

You can sponsor me to run the Loch Ness Marathon a week on Sunday in aid of the RNLI here:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/madfrogrunsagain

And next month I'm organising a Curry Night at the Saffron in Summertown on Thursday 28th.

It's £17.50 for a delicious buffet selection in the best Indian Restaurant in Oxford.

If you're on Facebook - the event is listed here: http://bit.ly/RNLI_curry

Otherwise just leave me a comment here and I'll send you more details!

Day 102 - Wednesday 22nd September: Easy 40

2010-09-22T23:16:00.002+01:00

Run: 4.43 miles
Time: 39 minutes 45 seconds

Today called for an "easy" run, but given the huge mileage I've racked up over the previous weeks, anything under a couple of hours will feel pretty easy. I choose to run outer laps of the village, which are about 1.7 miles, so I can fit in 2 and as much of the 3rd as I can squeeze in in 40 minutes, heading back home at the appropriate point. I set off at a comfortable 9-minute-mile pace, and slow down a little as I remind myself this is supposed to be "easy". Soon I'm not concentrating and my legs have speeded up again. I clock up mile 1 in 9 minutes.

Mile 2 and I'm a bit quicker again, so I do ease off this time on Mile 3, and then on the third lap of the village approaching the roundabout to the new estate, I cut back in towards home, and reach my starting point with 15 seconds to spare. Ok, so I ran a bit faster than planned, and covered a bit more distance. It's odd, I don't remember the taper weeks being such hard work when training for London. And by hard work I mean I'm finding it hard to not run as hard or as fast or as long as I want to! Edinburgh was different as I had a minor injury and then a horrible throat infection towards the end of my training, so cutting back, albeit frustrating, was quite easy.

Maybe one day I'll get the hang of this marathon training lark, and it'll all just fit into place easily?

Day 101 - Tuesday 21st September: Orangey day

2010-09-21T22:02:00.002+01:00

A scheduled rest day today, so I treated myself to a full hour long sports massage, but not after I'd visited the kind folk at KC Colour in Wantage again for them to dye my hair in preparation for running the marathon. I'd bleached my hair yesterday, and although I hadn't left it on quite long enough to make my hair completely white-blond, the yellowish hue I'd achieved was still a suitable base colour for the orange tint. Amy set to work and applied the colour to my hair. After 20 minutes she washed it off, and then applied a slightly darker one, as the first colour had only left me strawberry blond.

Half an hour later, and she washed my hair again to reveal... a light orangey colour. Not quite the vibrant lifeboat shade I was hoping for, but still enough to make me stand out a bit to aid my fundraising along for the next week. Then next Wednesday I'm back there again to have the colour topped up, and next time she's going to get a darker, more crazy colour! Watch this space!!

Then I nipped home to change, and back to Wantage to the leisure centre for my appointment with Sammy from inside & out body therapy. Last time I had a sport massage (a few days after I'd run 18 miles), I hardly felt a thing and wasn't sure it had been worth it. I'm not sure about today either, I've been so lucky not to have picked up any niggles in training this time around. Still, I have run over 80 miles since my last session, so she'll probably find something that needs ironing out with her elbows.

Ouch, ouch ouch! Blimey, did she find some tight muscles! Quite the most pleasurably painful massage I've had for a long while. Very tight calves. Very knotty hamstrings. My back was stiff, and my neck needed some rather intense treatment too. And then my quads needed some thorough work to finish off. She more than made up for last time's disappointment. I always say I don't feel I've got my money's worth unless she hurts me, and this week she more than earned the fee! Far from feeling bad because it was painful, I'm really happy that it was obviously important that I had this much needed massage. This will give me a final boost to my training to keep me in tip top shape in readiness for the marathon in just 12 day's time!

Day 100 - Monday 20th September: Recovery day

2010-09-20T21:01:00.001+01:00

Run: 3.54 miles
Time: 30 minutes 18 seconds

Swim: 1000 metres
Time: 30 minutes

The plan today was a gentle 20 minute jog as a recovery run. But a 20 minute lunchtime jog sounds very boring. I know, I'll do a bit more than 20 minutes, and run to Steventon & back. Along the railway line, up the hill, down again and back to work. If I go direct, it'll only be abut 2½ miles, won't it? Maybe a bit more? Perhaps I should have planed it out first. Along the railway line, and I've done a mile. I reach Steventon and I'm 12 minutes in. Am I half way? Probably not...! Oh well, up the hill I go, speeding up from the gentle 9-minute pace I've done so far.

I reach the top of the hill, and head back down towards Milton Park. I get lucky at the lights, and don't wait too long to cross the A34 roundabout. Back to the Park, and I'm over 22 minutes in, with about 7 to go. Hmmm. This recovery run's going to be a bit harder and longer than planned. But then my legs don't feel at all stiff from yesterday's half marathon. I pass a couple of RMers on the other side of the road out for a lunchtime run, and we wave at each other. Back at work, and I'm a little over half an hour. Warm-down, stretch & shower, and it barely feels like I've been out for a run at all.

Then this evening I head to the pool for my regular Monday swim. Since I'm in the taper zone, I choose not to go for a big distance today. Much as I'd love to match the 80 lengths I did last week, I decide upon half that distance. But I make sure I rest a lot less, and therefore only take a very short breather every 2 lengths for the first 30, and then try to do the last 10 in one go with no stopping. The fast lane, however, is busy with a couple of slow swimmers (what are they doing there?) and a couple of extra fast swimmers. We get in each other's way a bit, and I have to give way to the seriously speedy two, one of whom must half some dolphin in her ancestry so graceful is her ability to glide effortlessly past me into a full on tumble turn! Anyway, I get through the 1,000 metres in just over 30 minutes.

Day 99 - Sunday 19th September: Great South Oxfordshire Run

2010-09-19T22:13:00.001+01:00

Run: 13.21 miles
Time: 1 hour 56 minutes 45 seconds

Today's schedule called for an easy (or was it comfortable?) 120 minutes. So that's about 12 miles. However, as you know I've been upping the distance and or pace to increase my training to be more of an intermediate level than the beginner's plan. So I choose to do 13 miles, easy. So about 130 minutes. But 13 miles means the route I choose is the "Stanford in the Vale Half Marathon" that I designed last year. And because I was running a Half Marathon, somehow it didn't feel right trying to do it in over 2 hours. I haven't run this distance that slowly since June 2009.

I don't deliberately set off too fast, but I'm soon hitting a low 9-minute-something pace, and it feels comfortable. Although, stupidly, I forgot to double-knot my laces before I set off (thinking I'd do it when I was waiting for my Garmin to find a signal, but then forgot). I reach Park Lane to notice a loose lace flapping about, so have to stop to tie them up. Far from a 9-min-mile then, I clock up the first mile in a tardy 9m41s. Not to worry, maybe I should take it steady after all.

As per usual, however, my legs have other ideas, and I whizz through the next mile in 8m40s. Surely this is too fast? I'm going to have to be more careful in 2 weeks to more rigidly stick to my race plan. I can't afford to overcook it too soon. Today, however, I have every confidence that I can make the half in under 2 hours, without pushing it too much. I've already done over 2 miles, and there's less than 11 to go. Today's run feels a) like a doddle (compared to last week's 22) and b) seems to be going really quickly - I'm not far off 20% done already.

At the end of Park Lane I turn right towards Denchworth. The wind is against me now, and strong too. Oh, this means it'll be against me for a good few miles towards the end of the run too. Oh well, I can't chop & change the route now. Soon I'm heading East and I'm out of the wind again. Both miles 3 & 4 come up quickly too, although my pace has slackened off a little - back closer to a 9-minute-mile.

Somehow some renewed vigour from the more gentle speed gives me a kick for the next couple of miles, and I'm running faster again. I've chosen to bring only one gel today, so plan to take it at 7 miles. I'm thinking ahead now, and not about the miles I'm going to complete first. I miss clocking up both miles 5 & 6, but can tell I'm still on pace to make the 13.1 miles in about 1h57m, although when I reach the halfway point it would seem that I might make it a bit quicker than that too (especially if I do the usual negative split).

I turn North on the road towards Southmoor, knowing that very soon I'll be turning West back to Charney. All the times I've been running these roads over the last few months, increasing my distance each week, and making the runs progressively harder, fade away to make today's 13-miler seem increasingly easy. At this rate I'm going to beat the time I ran the Milton Keynes Half Marathon in back in July - which is surprising as that's a proper race with a crowd of other runners to keep pace with. Today I'm out on my own, but my inner runner is keeping up the pace without anyone to follow or anyone to cheer me on.

It's been a grey day, and fairly cool to boot. I'm not going to need the 750ml of water I've brought with me, as well as the 500ml of lucozade sport. Still better to bring too much than too little I guess. The downside of planning my run this morning is that it clashes with the Great North Run, so I'll miss the coverage of that on the TV. Still, nevermind I guess. I'm running my own Great Run today.

At Charney Bassett, I get the odd mix of desire to push on and speed up the pace for the last 4 miles coupled with a sense of tiredness. Ok, so I'm not going to push for home just yet, but neither am I going to succumb to the niggling doubt that would otherwise raise its head that I may have overdone it. On a longer run of the higher teens, then perhaps the tiredness would have tried to take a grip over my enthusiasm, but not today. I brush the idea away, barely even given a real thought.

On the road to Gainfield I do feel I can speed up, but then this is slightly uphill, so actually I slow down. The wind, as I suspected, is against me again. Time to dig in and keep going. It doesn't feel bad, but I suppose it is a bit harder work than would be ideal. I think ahead to Loch Ness, and wonder how the land lies there, will there be exposed sections prone to strong winds? What will the weather be like in the far North of Scotland in October? I guess I'll find out in a fortnight.

Now I'm on the downhill in Gainfield, on the home stretch. I can push on and go for it. I use the favourable incline to kick it up a gear, making mile 12 in 8m31s. And with only a mile or so left to go I'm on the edge of Stanford, and again I speed up. Far from flagging now, I feel great as a wave of energy floods my legs knowing how close to the end I am. The last few hundred yards whizz by, as I clock up mile 13 in 8m13s and I pass the Half Marathon distance in about 1h55m (my 3rd best this year), and reach home in 1h56m45s - a distance of 13.21 miles.

The next 2 weeks will be a lot easier now. Next Sunday's 8 miler won't even feel like it's worth getting out of bed for!

Day 98 - Saturday 18th September: Rest

2010-09-18T12:43:00.002+01:00

These scheduled rest days feel a bit weird. I'm keen to get out and run, but know that I need to stick to my training plan.

So, some more stats about my training so far. Although my average daily distance for the year is 3 miles (slightly less actually, now I've had two days off), I've only run on about half of these days. I've run 131 times in 8½ months, and spent 130 days resting or swimming or cycling or doing gym classes. That means my average run distance is 5.92 miles.

The full breakdown of these runs:

0.7m - 1m	6
1m - 2m	16
2m - 3m	12
3m - 4m	19
4m - 5m	20
5m - 6m	16
6m - 7m	6
7m - 8m	6
8m - 9m	6
9m - 10m	2
10m - 11m	3
11m - 12m	1
12m - 13m	3
13.1m - 14m	4
14m - 15m	2
15m - 16m	2
16m - 17m	2
17m - 18m	0
18m - 19m	2
19m - 20m	0
20m - 21m	1
21m - 22m	1
22m - 23m	0
23m - 24m	0
24m - 25m	0
26.2m	1
------------------	----
Total - 775m	131
------------------	----

Day 97 - Friday 17th September: Rest

2010-09-17T17:57:00.001+01:00

Yet another day of rest.

Out of interest - I've totted up the number of miles I've run in 2010.

775.

So in the 258 days of the year up until yesterday's run, I have averaged 3 miles per day.

Every day.

For the whole year.

Day 96 - Thursday 16th September: Sutton Courtenay - 50 mins

2010-09-16T21:53:00.001+01:00

Run: 5.88 miles
Time: 49 minutes 46 seconds

It's hard to judge how far or how fast to run now. For the next 2½ weeks I will be running less often and shorter distances than I've been building up to in recent week. So today's plan is "50 minutes steady". I've kind of got used to "steady" meaning about a 9-minute-mile pace, so I head off on a 5 mile loop, planning to add about half a mile to bring the time up to the full amount. I could stop short at 45 minutes, but I want to make sure that I run up to the planned amount, and just because a steady run is no longer the 10-minute-miles I was doing a couple of years ago doesn't mean I can cut the run short now. Time on my feet is more important than the distance covered.

As I glance down at my Garmin en route to Sutton Courtenay I spot the average time creeping down. 8m58s - 8m52s - 8m45s... I slacken off a bit, not wanting to run too fast. But it's no good, my legs have other ideas about how steady today's pace will be. I clock up the first mile in 8m39s. Maybe I should try harder to slow down? Nope, the legs don't hear me. Mile 2, and it's 8m38s. Hmm, maybe I can keep up this very steady, very consistent pace. But how far to run? I'm going to have to start thinking about where I'm going to add on the extra distance, at this rate the 5 miles will take about 43 minutes.

With no clear plan of my route, I'm sure my indecision will affect my pace. I'm sure to have slowed up, especially now I've left Sutton Courtenay and I'm out on the open road towards Drayton, where I need to be wary of the traffic. Beep. Mile 3. 8m28s! How come the less I concentrate on my pace, the faster I go? On the road towards Milton I pass the dog kennels I must have run past a dozen times before. Strangely I've never been aware of dogs barking outside it before!

At Milton I turn left. I've changed my mind about completing the normal 5 mile loop, if I head back to Sutton Courtenay now, I'll be able to cover the 5½ or more miles, perhaps by heading off road onto the trim trail across the field back to Milton Park. However it turns out all I need to do is the little extra loop around the houses at the south of the village. A kite swoops down, and almost lands in the road near the primary school, before circling up into the sky again, effortlessly banking and flying off high above the houses. The school marks the mile back to work, and I've just clocked up 42 minutes, not far off the 5 mile point.

On the road back to work, I pass the turning into the field (where the "trim trail" goes), and I'm glad I didn't choose to go that way after all. It looks a bit overgrown. I shouldn't be considering running off road now, because although the uneven terrain is great for my ankles and achilles, there is also a risk of injury if I hit an unexpected patch of unidentified earth/rock/animal hole. I absolutely cannot afford a sprain at this stage.

Thinking I might actually get back to work after my 50 minutes is up, I quicken my pace. The average for the run creeps down again. 8m31s - 8m30s - 8m29s... this is looking good. I'm not racing, still running a comfortably steady pace. Back to the start point, less than 50 minutes, and not far of 6 miles. It's great that my legs took it upon themselves to run a third of a mile further than planned for what felt like no extra effort. And the average over the whole run? 8m27s - thanks to a sub 8-minute-mile pace for the last .88 miles.

Day 95 - Wednesday 15th September: Rest

2010-09-15T17:55:00.001+01:00

Another day off - there are going to be quite a few of these coming up now that I've entered the taper zone!

Day 94 - Tuesday 14th September: Stanford 3 laps

2010-09-14T22:57:00.001+01:00

Run: 3.47 miles
Time: 27 minutes 10 seconds

After yesterday's quite astonishing 80 lengths on the pool (I'm still a bit in awe of myself for having done that), it's back to the running today. A "brisk" 30 minutes is called for, so I opt for 3 "mile" laps of the village, but extended a bit to what might be 1.2 miles? I didn't measure the distance before I set out, but did a quick calculation that running 3 of these about 8m20s each would be spot on half an hour.

In fact, however, the laps were only 1.16 miles, and I ended up running faster than an 8-minute-mile pace. I almost ran past my house to clock up the full 30 minutes, but thought that on reflection 27 minutes was close enough. It was a great feeling to have run 3½ miles in this quick pace so easily. I've come along way in the three years I've been running (1,871 miles to be precise). I wonder where I'll be in three years' time?

Day 93 - Monday 13th September: 2km swim

2010-09-13T22:19:00.002+01:00

Swim: 2,000 metres (1.24 miles)

Time: 65 minutes

I got to the pool early this week to give me plenty of time to get a mile in, and planned to round it up to 70 lengths, but soon realised that I could make 75 instead. But that would be 1875 metres, which is a bit of an odd number, and also swimming an odd number of lengths would leave me at the far end of the pool.

So I decided to just do as many as I could manage before 8pm and the time I'd be kicked out to make way for the ladies aqua aerobics (unlike Wantage - the Faringdon pool doesn't let the public swim at the same time as the class, and surely in a contravention to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 doesn't allow blokes to take part). With 10 minutes to go, I'd reached 68 lengths... could I perhaps manage as many as 80 in time? That would be a very nice round number - two kilometres.

I sped up a fraction for the last few laps - and just made it in time. The last 25 metres was a bit hard, as they'd loosened the rope, and it was sticking out into the lane that I'd been swimming in. Nothing like dropping a hint that they didn't want me there! When I started swimming for exercise about 8 years ago, just swimming ten lengths was hard work. I never imagined I'd ever be able to swim 80 in one go...

Day 92 - Sunday 12th September: Charney 22

2010-09-12T22:18:00.002+01:00

Run: 21.88 miles
Time: 3 hours 40 minutes 53 seconds

Today sees the longest training run I've ever done. I am going to attempt 22 miles. The longest I "need" to do in training is about 20 miles. I did that last weekend. This is a distance, bizarrely, that I "want" to run. I want to give myself the best chance of getting a PB in Loch Ness, by tailoring the beginner's training plan I've been using, upping the distances or intensity a bit here and there.

I map out a new route. Stanford in the Vale - Hanney - Southmoor - Charney Bassett - Lyford - Denchworth - Charney Bassett - Hatford - Stanford in the Vale. This is actually a bit over 22 miles, so I may skip the bit to Hatford and just return home from Gainfield instead. I'll see how my legs feel after the 3½+ hours it's going to take.

I get up quite early for a Sunday, and enjoy breakfast of ready brek & a sliced banana. I get ready with a litre of lucozade sport, 750ml of water and 4 gels. I'm off out of the door just after 8.15am and set off towards Park Lane. I'm not fazed by the distance I'm going to cover today. I know it's not going to be easy, but it's not worrying me either. The weather is good, clear skies, sunshine with a light breeze. No sign of rain around, and I've set off early enough to not worry too much about it getting hot. I should be fine.

The first five miles or so are a breeze, quite easy and I'm hoping the remaining ¾ of the run will be as comfortable, though I suspect not. There's more of a breeze against me on the northbound stretch to Southmoor, but it's not too strong. Almost refreshing. Soon I'm leaving Southmoor and taking my second gel and thinking about the distance still to cover. Normally at this stage of the route I can start thinking about home, but today I'm not even half way...

At Charney Bassett I opt to head straight on to Denchworth, and run back via Lyford (rather than the other way round). It doesn't matter which way I run this loop, except that doing it this way means I reverse my steps from earlier on, rather than repeat the same section in the same direction. I'm all for making the run seem different, to make it more interesting. Well that's the plan anyway.

As I approach Park Lane, the temptation to head home in under 2½ miles is strong. I've never cut a run short through choice though, and have no intention of doing so today. I need to keep plodding on. Only another nine miles to go... Onwards to Denchworth, and I'll only have a third of the run to go. I can feel I'm tiring now, and soon fall into the slippery slope of wondering when it's going to get hard. I am starting to think self-fulfilling thoughts. I can't help it - ideally I'd remain totally positive about how well the run has gone so far, and how well it will carry on right to the end...

... but I can feel it getting harder. I slow down a bit, and try to enjoy the late morning sun. I do briefly perk up and feel myself speeding up a little. Less than six miles now, maybe I can keep it up at this pace, and finish a great run after all? It doesn't last though. Tiredness overcomes me again. On through Lyford, on again through Charney Bassett. It's really not so far now. I choose to skip the extra distance to Hatford, I don't need to push it beyond 22 miles, anything over 21 miles will be just fine.

I reach Gainfield, having clocked up a slow mile (10m55s), which sums up my mood for the run now. However I speed up again on the downhill section, and can feel the end is getting close. I surprise myself that I can actually up the pace like this. It's pleasing to think that I'm not totally drained. I can use this kind of reserve in three weeks' time when I need to get up the hills late on in the marathon. The 21st mile brings up the new longest solo run I've ever done. Hard work without the crowds to cheer me on. The last few miles of a marathon, with the other runners to follow, and the bystanders shouting my name makes it easier than it has been today.

Back in Stanford, and I cut through the churchyard, but rather than head straight home, I eek out the last little bit of enthusiasm I'd found, by running past the village hall, up to Joyces Road, and back into Huntersfield to almost, but not quite, clock up 22 miles!

Job done, in the last thirteen weeks of intensive training I've run over 350 miles. Now it's time to taper off for the next few weeks, with fewer weekday runs, no overdoing it in the gym, and just a couple of short weekend runs of 13 miles and 8 miles. I rather think after today's efforts, I have earned the right to think of a 13 mile run as "short".

Day 91 - Saturday 11th September: Gentle jog

2010-09-11T11:49:00.001+01:00

Run: 1.92 miles
Time: 18 minutes 04 seconds

Just a gentle jog round the village this morning to loosen up my legs, since my calves are still a bit still from the hills and gym workouts I've put them through this week.

Day 90 - Friday 10th September: Rest

2010-09-10T21:38:00.002+01:00

A day off today, followed by another day off tomorrow (or maybe just a little recovery jog down to the postbox and back). The peak of my training is over, just one more BIG one to do... then it's taper time!

Day 89 - Thursday 9th September: Steventon 10k

2010-09-10T20:43:00.001+01:00

Run: 6.23 miles
Time: 56 minutes 55 seconds

A change of scenery for this evening's run. An hour's steady run, with the added twist of a hill. Since I was meeting some friends after work in Didcot, I planned out a route from work that would be about an hour's run. I set off on a 4ish mile route to Sutton Courtenay & back via Milton village, with the detour out to Steventon along the railway line, up the hill and back to Milton Park to run back and forth a bit to bring the total up to around 6 miles.

Then a quick shower, and get ready to go out to find I'd been locked in the building... luckily I was only stuck for a few minutes before someone turned up who could let me out. There was me almost thinking that after work runs would be fun to do to mix things up from my usual laps of the village when I get home, but risking getting stuck in the office is not something that would make this enjoyable!

Day 88 - Wednesday 8th September: Gym classes

2010-09-08T23:28:00.003+01:00

Gym classes

LBT: 45 minutes

Aquacise: 1 hour

Yogalates: 1 hour

Making the most of a free Wednesday, I packed in three classes today. The usual LBT, followed by Aquacise (a new one on me), and then Yogalates.

There were 10 of us in the LBT class this evening, so a lot busier than usual. The instructor let all the girls finish the squats when they wanted to, but I had to hold it for another count of 16. I beat her! The leg raises were a killer though... so she got me back.

Then to fill in the time before Yogalates, I was persuaded to try out the aqua aerobics class. Again I was the only bloke, this time in a pool of 20 women. It was interesting, but not very strenuous. However I'm sure it was useful, given I'm only 3½ weeks away from a marathon, and better for me than spending an hour in the gym, which would have been a bit too much like hard work.

So - last class for today - an hour's Yogalates to finish the evening. A bit tough in places given the workout my legs had already had in the previous two classes (especially the balancing poses). I still prefer yoga to this version (but that's not available as an evening class).

Day 87 - Tuesday 7th September: Steventon Hill

2010-09-07T20:40:00.001+01:00

Run: 4.43 miles
Time: 36 minutes 52 seconds

A brisk run today, including a steep hill climb in less than half a mile. Average over the distance still 8m19s.

I could have done the 5 miles loop again today, albeit not at last week's super speedy 7½-minute pace, but I chose the hilly route today instead. I haven't practised my hill runs enough in training for Loch Ness. It's all too easy to get into a routine of doing the same routes. I only have a few chances left to get some gradients in.

I set off quite steady, speeding up all the way, covering nearly two miles before I hit the muddy path alongside the railway. Even playing dodge the puddle, I made it to Steventon still under 8½ minutes a mile. Then it's the steep hill. According to my Garmin it was a 90ft gain in about 700 yards, which would make the gradient a mere 1 in 22. If feels steeper than that. Still, I made it to the top in good time, clocking up an 8m34s mile with the hill.

Then it's back downhill to the A34 roundabout, where I was lucky with the lights and the traffic, and got back onto Milton Park without too much delay, making an 8-minute-mile to finish.

Day 86 - Monday 6th September: Mile swim

2010-09-06T22:11:00.001+01:00

Swim: 1650 metres (1.025 miles)

Time: 55 minutes

Swam another mile this evening! Got to the leisure centre later than planned, so it was gone five past seven by the time I got in the pool. I didn't think I'd be able to get 66 lengths in, as it takes me almost a minute a length, and it would normally take me about an hour.

However there were a number of swimmers going just a bit faster than my normal pace in the fast lane, which spurred me on to keep going, barely stopping every other length for a quick breather. And so I made it, one-and-a-bit miles in under 55 minutes and even kept enough back to sprint the last length.

Day 85 - Sunday 5th September: Recovery Run

2010-09-05T23:48:00.001+01:00

Run: 3.02 miles
Time: 27 minutes 39 seconds

A gentle jog round the village this evening to loosen things up after yesterday's long one.

Day 84 - Saturday 4th September: Charney 20

2010-09-04T18:04:00.002+01:00

Run: 20 miles
Time: 3 hours 19 minutes 56 seconds

On Monday I ran 18 miles from Stanford - Denchworth - Charney Bassett - Lyford - West Hanney - Southmoor - Charney Bassett - Gainfield - stopping just short of Stanford and walking back to cool down.

Today I ran almost the same route, but in a different order, joining up the bits I missed around Charney Bassett and between Lyford and Denchworth:

Stanford - Charney Bassett - West Hanney - Southmoor - Charney Bassett - Lyford - Denchworth - Stanford.

I deliberately ran it more slowly, so completed the extra 2 miles in an extra 27 minutes. It may not have been much further, but it certainly was much harder. Although I did still manage to up the pace on the last couple of miles, completing the last one in a bit over 9 minutes, so overall I'm still happy with the outcome.

I set off later than planned as I realised I'd forgotten to get any more gels and was down to my last two. It would have been a real struggle to get round this long distance without the added fuel on the way round to keep me going. So I nipped into Abingdon first to grab a couple of Go gels from Fit2Run. Not my normal brand, but they did the job. I have used them before so knew I didn't run the risk of an adverse reaction for trying them out for the first time!

I'm glad that when you run a marathon there are water stations on the way round. Today I took a litre of water and 750ml of lucozade sport, and although I'd drunk most of them towards the end of the run, my arms were feeling it from having had to carry the extra weight all the way around with me!

Day 83 - Friday 3rd September: Rest

2010-09-03T21:42:00.002+01:00

Kind of mixed up my training schedule, what with holiday last week and a bank holiday on Monday - so I lost at least a day this week.

I was toying with running the five miles that were planned, but since I did a super speedy five yesterday (which should have been Wednesday), and am going for 20 miles tomorrow (to give me Sunday to recover before work on Monday), another run this evening would not have been sensible. Perhaps I should have fit in a swim today instead? Next week I should be back on plan as I near the "taper zone" the week after.

Loch Ness is now just a month away, so it's time to remind you of my sponsorship page:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/madfrogrunsagain

Please tell your friends!

Day 82 - Thursday 2nd September: Fast Five

2010-09-03T00:38:00.003+01:00

Run: 5.0 miles

Time: 37m49s

Today's plan called for a fast 50 minute run, but I decided to up the pace to make it really fast, but lower the distance to make it about 40 minutes instead. A friend who used to work at RM, who encouraged me when I started running, once told me he did the Sutton Courtenay loop in under 40 minutes. At the time I thought I could never aspire to run 5 whole miles in under 8 minutes each. I could run one that fast, yes. I could run five miles in under 50 minutes yes. Knocking a couple of minutes off each mile over "such a long distance" seemed unlikely.

Yet here I am a couple of years later, and I know that actually I can achieve that pace now. I've run 7.6 miles in an hour, and 8.4 miles in 65 minutes. But they were mile laps of the village, running past my front door where I know I can stop at any time and be home quickly. I never do stop, but it's a kind of "safety net" to running that fast. If it proves too difficult, I can just stop a lap or two early.

Running out on the road on a single five mile loop is more of a challenge, because I have to cover the same distance, regardless of how fast I can keep it up. Does that make any sense? Sort of!
Will I have the same self determination to keep running as fast as I can for the whole route? We'll see...

So I set off at a steady pace, to warm up. Gradually upping the intensity until I'm about an 8-minute mile. This is good, I think I can keep this up. Uh-oh, Mile 1 and it's only 7m50s. That's a bit faster than planned, but since it still feels so good, I think I'll be fine. I glance down on mile two and notice my average has dropped to 7m45s, so it looks like Mile 2 will be faster. Yikes, can I really keep this up?

Mile 3 and I push it a bit, I'm feeling really good now, and keep telling myself I'm over half way, not too far to get back now. Hey at this pace I'll easily beat 40 minutes. Mile 4 and I keep it steady, I don't want to burn out too soon now, I'm doing so well, I'll just cruise along at the same pace - 7½ minute miles! Not in my wildest dreams when I started out running could I think about running this fast, certainly not for miles at a time.

Mile 5, home stretch now, and I'm tiring. It's hard work now to keep up the pace, or rather to keep up the even faster pace I've set myself now to get back to work. I slacken off slightly and then speed up again. Then I round the corner and the office is in sight. So what did I do? I break into a real sprint for the last hundred yards, easing off just slightly to bring up the distance to the full five miles. 7 minutes 10 seconds for the last mile.

Another negative split run, with each mile faster than the last, and the last at a pace that would see a marathon done in under 3½ hours (knocking an hour off my PB!). Just a shame this is only a threshold run of five miles, and I can't really keep this speed up over that kind of distance... but then I never thought I could run five miles in under 40 minutes. You never know, maybe one day? Perhaps I have a sub 3h30m marathon in me somewhere? For now, sub 4h30m will suit me just fine!

Day 80 - Wednesday 1st September: Rest

2010-09-01T18:23:00.001+01:00

A scheduled rest day today. Yesterday saw the end of my biggest running month ever - over 140 miles in August! That's about 4.5 miles per day.

In fact since I took up running in October 2007, I have clocked up just over 1800 miles, which is a daily average over 35 months of 1.7 miles. And in 2010 alone, I've already run 700 miles so far - that brings my daily average up to 2.7 miles for the first 8 months this year...

Little wonder I need a day off!

Day 80 - Tuesday 31st August: LBT + Recovery Run

2010-08-31T19:35:00.001+01:00

Class: LBT
Time: 1 hour

Run: 2.01 miles
Time: 18m43s

Away on holiday last week, busy this week & next, I thought a whole month without a gym class wasn't ideal, so I extended my hols by another half day so I could get another hour-long LBT core fitness session in. Although having decided to do this, I regretted it when I realised that I'd be doing my long (18-mile) run just yesterday afternoon. However my long hot bath last night (and the good long walk at the end of the run itself) meant my legs were decidedly ache-free this morning!

There were just the two us us doing the class again this week, and as usual Amy made some of it hard just for my benefit! The worst bit was leg raises - lie on your side one leg on top of the other, and lift the upper leg & down for eight. On the 8th, keep it up and hold, then lift it up higher from there for another eight. Sounds easy? Try it with ankle weights at the same time!

Other than that we did donkey kicks, squats, single leg lunges (they burned), and loads of different ab crunches. I made the whole hour with only a few wobbles. And when I got home instead of jumping straight in the shower, I nipped out for a gentle jog round the village for a couple of miles, for a recovery run.

Day 79 - Monday 30th August: Charney 18

2010-08-30T22:50:00.002+01:00

Run: 18.00 miles
Time: 2h53m26s

Back home and back to normal training. Today saw my delayed weekend LSR - a distance of 18 miles. Last time I ran this route, I kept going all the way home, covering about another three-quarters of a mile. Today I stopped at 18 miles, and used the walk back through the village as my warm-down.

I tried to run this at a ten-minute-mile pace, but I still find it hard to run that slowly now. I wasn't far off though. The first half was good, with no problems to speak of. The weather was good, sunny, not too hot, with a light breeze.

The second half was harder work though, my legs were definitely tired after about ten miles, and knowing the full route was almost 19 miles was not a thrilling prospect. However once out of Southmoor, I decided that I'd do what I did when I first ran this route, and stop when I'd reached the required distance, and just walk the last section back home. This cheered me up, and spurred me on.

In fact rather than slowing to a 10+ minute mile pace (as I had started to do), I sped up considerably for the last 4 miles, and made them in ever increasing times:
9m15s - 9m13s - 8m52s & 8m10s. I think that was pretty good, to be able to run just outside an 8-minute-mile having just run 17 beforehand!

York City Walls

2010-08-30T22:06:00.002+01:00

Running round the outside of the city walls (almost, I was inside between Bootham Bar and Lendal bridge), I stopped every minute or so on the way round to take a snapshot of the points of interest:

07.07am - Micklegate Bar

07.08am - Victoria Bar

07.09am - View of wall from Price's Lane

07.11am - Baile Hill (site of the original motte & bailey castle)

07.12am - Clifford's Tower (York's second castle)

07.13am - York Castle Museum

07.13am - Water Mill (part of museum)

07.14am - Fishergate Postern Tower

07.14am - View of wall from Paragon Street

07.15am - Fishergate Bar

07.17am - Walmgate Bar (the only one in the country with a barbican intact)

07.19am - Red Tower

07.21am - Footbridge over River Foss

07.22am - Jewbury (with Minster behind)

07.22am - Jewbury

07.25am - Monkgate Bar

07.25am - Advert for Bile Beans (popular from about 1900)

07.26am - View of Minster from Lord Mayor's Walk

07.29am - Clifton Bootham (I'm now inside the walls)

07.30am - Bootham Bar

07.31am - York Minster

07.31am - Lendal Bridge (I'm outside the walls again)

07.35am - River Ouse (as seen from railway bridge)

07.37am - Cedar Court Grand (once LNER headquarters)

07.39am - Old Station entrance - before the new station was built in 1877
(on Queen Victoria's only visit to York, she never left the station)

07.40am - Micklegate Bar
(One complete circuit of the walls in just over half an hour)

Day 78 - Sunday 29th August: Without the city walls

2010-08-29T08:17:00.003+01:00

Run: 3.81 miles
Time: 38m56s

The city centre of York isn't that big. Having seen most of the walls over the last few days, I decided to run round them for my last holiday run.

A gentle jog today, not too far as I've planned my LSR for tomorrow's bank holiday. I made it even slower this morning, by stopping several times en route to take pictures of the bars and other interesting sights on my way around.

The stop start nature of the run felt uncomfortable, but it's not a serious one, and when I get home I can upload a pictorial record of my run without the walls.

Day 77 - Saturday 28th August: Rest

2010-08-28T09:57:00.001+01:00

Last day off today before I get back into a more regular training regime again from tomorrow.

Day 76 - Friday 27th August: Cool riverside run

2010-08-27T09:32:00.002+01:00

Run: 5.84 miles
Time: 54m25s

I dragged myself out of bed early again today. The plan, run alongside the river Ouse for 3 miles, double back to the B&B. The reality, 4 miles by the riverbank, head into the city, and run round some more of the walls...

Although I would normally have run about 8 miles on my training plan, there wasn't really time for that, and besides - I am still on holiday, so settled for a little under 6 today!

Day 75 - Thursday 26th August: Rest

2010-08-27T09:25:00.001+01:00

Another day off running, as I enjoyed a day sight-seeing with my daughter. One of the highlights was The Ghost Hunt of York!

Day 74 - Wednesday 25th August: Early morning run

2010-08-25T09:43:00.002+01:00

Run: 5.13 miles
Time: 45m52s

Having missed out on a run yesterday, I'm itching to get out for one today. I awake about half six, and can't get back to sleep. So it's on with my running shoes and out of the door for a fairly brisk morning jog.

I don't know where I'm going, but run towards the Minster, and run round in circles round the city walls and back, reaching the B&B by 7.45am. I am quite pleased with myself! What a great start to the day, eh?

Day 73 - Tuesday 24th August: Rest

2010-08-25T09:29:00.001+01:00

An unexpected day off today. Spent half the day trying to find a B&B to stay in for a few days away. The internet let me down, so had to resort to the old-fashioned "ring the city tourist office, and let them find somewhere for us". This meant staying in to await them to call back. Twice. 2 hours later and we're quickly packing for the 4 hour drive to York... I don't forget to pack my running shoes!

Day 72 - Monday 23rd August: Mile swim

2010-08-23T16:17:00.002+01:00

Swim: 1650 metres (1.025 miles)

Time: 1 hour

For a change today - I went to the Wantage swimming pool for a lunchtime swim. And once again, I found I'd forgotten my goggles... However I bought a new pair from reception, and headed back to the pool. Not a great start, but now I have a spare - so I'm less likely to forget them again.

I set off in the "fast" lane, and managed 8 lengths, but decided since it was pretty congested, I'd try the "slow" lane instead. However although the slow lane wasn't quite as busy, it was very much slower, so I'd actually be more in the way trying to overtake everyone than I would be keeping to one side in the fast lane and letting the speedy swimmers past me. The fast lane was wider too.

So back in the fast lane, and I keep plodding on. Length after length. 20. 30. 40... After 50 lengths everyone else's lunch must be over, as I'm in the lane alone. And then the lifeguard removes the rope, so there is no lane any more. Uh-oh, does that mean I won't be able to get my mile in today either? No, I'm ok - there may be no lanes now, but there are no classes or anything either. A couple of times I have to avoid another swimmer who's using the width of the pool, but they don't really get in my way.

I reach 60 lengths in under an hour, and speed up a bit for the last few lengths, trying a bit of a "sprint" for the last two, but it's a long time since breakfast, and I don't really have the energy to do them too fast... but I do make it to 66 lengths (stopping at 64 is short of a mile), in just a fraction over an hour.

Day 71 - Sunday 22nd August: Hatford 4

2010-08-22T20:58:00.003+01:00

Run: 4.03 miles
Time: 36 minutes 06 seconds

A gentle recovery out & back jog this evening, which turned into a bit of a speedy one. Mile 1, taking it easy on the footpath to Hatford. I sped up a little up Sandy Lane until I reached 2 miles, then turned round and headed home. Taking advantage of the downhill gradient, I upped my pace a little to begin mile 3, but my legs said they wanted more, so I sped up again and kept it up through mile 4.

This set me up for a comfortable negative split: out 19½ minutes - return 16½ minutes.

Day 70 - Saturday 21st August: Southmoor 16

2010-08-21T22:48:00.002+01:00

Run: 16.10 miles
Time: 2 hours 42 minutes 11 seconds

After a rather late night (read early morning) at a friend's housewarming barbecue yesterday, I put off today's LSR as long as possible. The weather forecast for today has promised heavy rain showers, so I'm not relishing the prospect of being out on the road for 2½+ hours, as no doubt I'll get soaked too. Oh well, the trials of training for a marathon. I'm sure I'll be fine.

I head off towards Park Lane, keeping my speed down to 10-minute-miles, making sure I'm not tempted to run a bit faster like I did last week. You're supposed to do these long runs slower than race pace, but I find it difficult to run much slower. Mind you since I didn't get a full night's sleep, it's not difficult to run a bit slower than normal today.

As I run towards Denchworth, I notice that the sky over to my left looks pretty grim & grey. Where I am it's blue with patches of cloud, but otherwise warm & sunny. There's a strong breeze to help keep my cool, but no immediate sign of the threatened downpour. I reach 4 miles, a quarter done already. I'm feeling good, but there's still a long way to go.

On the way to Hanney I take my first of two gels to keep me going. I'm juggling my drinks bottles, decanting the one that was half & half Lucozade Sport into the larger one with just Lucozade in it, so I can ditch the empty in the bin by the bus stop, along with my empty gel wrapper. I'm not paying attention to my feet and hit a pothole. Oops. Luckily I bend my ankle easily, and no harm is done. Perhaps all the gym classes I've been doing this year have paid off, and my feet are stronger and more flexible as a result? I should be more careful though.

Northward bound now, and Winter Lane usually lives up to its name, but not today. The wind which has picked up is behind me. Phew, I was dreading a headwind along this 3-mile section to Southmoor. It's a bit of a plod this bit, although passing the halfway point is pleasing. But I don't get complacent. It'll still be an hour & twenty minutes until I'm back in Stanford.

Still, I reach Southmoor, and I'm feeling quite good. Not great, but touch wood, today's run seems to be going ok. I certainly don't feel I've got any excess energy to pick up the speed, not that I want to. No matter, I just need to keep up this steady gentle pace. I reach ten miles and start planning my second gel. Maybe I'll leave it until I approach the straight North of Charney. There'd be abut 4½ miles to go then. However it's not long on this mile, and I feel myself flagging a bit, so opt for my gel straight away as a much needed pick me up.

Charney Bassett is in sight, but it feels like I'm running through treacle. Well, ok not as bad as that, but it does suddenly feel quite tough, and instead of feeling good knowing I've reached the three-quarters point, it feels like the next 40 minutes are going to be long ones. Mind you, there's still no sign of the soaking that I was expecting. Maybe I'll make it back in the dry after all?

Blip. Nearing the woods between Charney & Gainfield, and my Garmin tells me there are just 3 miles left, having completed 13. A bit further down the road and I notice the Half Marathon distance clock up. In about 2h13m. Part of me wants to quicken up at this point, there's not far to go now. That'll be my brain then. My legs, however, say no way. At Gainfield I start to feel a bit better, as there's less than 2 miles left now. And on the downhill, I do speed up here.

Back at Stanford, and I speed up again, I find some energy reserve that didn't appear to be there half an hour earlier, but I make the most of it, and run back home in order to get a huge pile of brown pasta on the go, with some mixed veg, a chopped chilli and pesto sauce. And five whirlpool poached eggs. I think I've earned a big dinner today, plenty of protein & complex carbs to help repair my overworked muscles...

Day 69 - Friday 20th August: Rest

2010-08-20T18:26:00.001+01:00

I was planning a quick 20 minute jog today, but stresses at work kept me back later than planned. In the pub already, now on holiday for a week, so hope to get some training in!

Day 68 - Thursday 19th August: White Horse Hill

2010-08-19T21:17:00.004+01:00

Run: 8.61 miles
Time: 1 hour 16 minutes 55 seconds

Today I had the morning off work, so I could plan a different route for my scheduled 8-miler. The beginner's training plan calls for a comfortable 75 minutes, but since I'm now above the level of "beginner marathoner", I'm upping some of the runs by either adding 5%-10% to the distance, or upping the intensity. Not by too much, as I don't want to risk injury by over-training, but hopefully by enough to make my training regime challenging enough to help me get a PB in Inverness.

Initially I was thinking of running through Hatford, along Sandy Lane, as this is supposed to be a bit hillier than my usual Gainfield - Charney loop. However I have to fetch a parcel from the Faringdon sorting office. I could start my run there instead, so I fire up Map Your Passion on the realbuzz website and start planning the route.

How about run towards Clanfield, turn left through Kelmscott to Lechlade.... nope, hold on. That's too far. Start again. Faringdon - towards Lechlade, turn left after Eaton Hastings (where I'd just have to sing the wrong words to a Jam song), cut across to Great Coxwell and back to Faringdon. The distance is about right, but hold on - the A417 is a pretty busy road. How safe is that to run on a weekday? Maybe I should leave that for a quiet Sunday morning.

Then it comes to me. I can park in Fernham, run to Uffington, up White Horse Hill, and back again. No, that's no good either, it's getting on for 10 miles. A bit too far. So I opt for Baulking instead, about 8½ miles, just about right. It'll still be less than 80 minutes - but I get a great workout by running up the road to White Horse Hill and down again!

I want to get some hills in to my training, as I've checked the elevation profile for Loch Ness. Initially it hadn't looked too much harder than Edinburgh, or even London. But then I spotted the scale for the profile is about 5 times larger. Where there was a 30 foot hill in Edinburgh, there's a 150 foot hill to look forward to this time. So what better way to prepare than attempt my local hill which has an elevation gain of about 450 feet?

I park up (by the Church), set my Garmin (which starts suspiciously quickly), check the weather (fine, if a little breezy, but no sign of rain), and set off. I make the first half mile well under 4 minutes, and it annoys me that this means I set off too soon (before my Garmin had properly located me), because I know full well I'm not running under 8-minute miles. Ah well, too late now.

I can see White Horse Hill over on the left of the horizon. It doesn't look too big. On the way out of Uffington, however, it looms up in front of me and looks huge. Luckily I'm on the upward incline already, and the overhanging trees obscure it from view, so all I can do is worry about the hill my feet are on, not the big green monster up ahead. When I reach the crossroads, and the hill is there in front of me, it's now so close it no longer looks so threatening.

I steady my pace as I head ever upward, speeding down my breathing to two-in two-out (instead of three-in three-out that I normally stick to). My legs are complaining. My mind is telling me I'm mad to attempt to run up this hill without being properly used to this kind of incline. Naturally I slow down, but I'm still running, not quite plodding, and certainly not giving up and walking. I'm chuffed to see I've done the last mile in 10:14 - in spite of how much height I've gained.

As I pass Dragon Hill, I can feel the worst is over, there's a slight breather which feels great, but there's still a way to go. Up round the corner and the Horse itself is just obscured from view up on my left; I gaze out over the Valley to my right, wishing I could pause to enjoy the fantastic view you get from up here. But I'm not here to sight-see today, I'm here to work. To stretch my muscles and stress my heart. And anyway, the Hill is beaten. It's all downhill from here.

Click to enlarge

I take it easy along the top road, catching my breath, and preparing myself for another 5 miles back to the car. Then it's downhill, and this is harder in some ways than the uphill. Going up is perversely easy, because you just put one foot in front of the other and work hard to get up. Down means having to watch your footing, check your speed, worry about loose gravel or rough road, as it would be all too easy to slip and fall. The last thing I need at this stage is a sprained ankle!

Down into Woolstone (16% downward slope according to the road-sign - in an 8:14 mile), and the road flattens. This feels like hard work now even though I'm still going downhill, but this is probably because I'm still running so fast. Into Uffington and my average is coming down towards 9-minutes per mile for the whole run. The next couple of miles and I'm still running under 9 minutes, and my average is still dropping.

I pause briefly having passed under the railway line, I hear a train and the wind disguises its sound. I turn to look, but it's just an Intercity 125 (common as anything along the Swindon - Didcot line). I turn back to the road ahead, and kick up a fraction, knowing there's only a couple of miles to go.

Past Uffington Station and the end is near. I rejoin the road from Uffington to Baulking, and I can't help but increase my pace again, risking blowing out before I finish the last half mile back to the car. I check myself, and steady my pace a bit, and I get back to the car in under 77 minutes, which is rewardingly faster than I thought I'd make such a hilly run when I set out!

This is a great run, and I'm sure I'll be including the 3,000 year old iconic landmark in my routes again.

Day 67 - Wednesday 18th August: Rest

2010-08-18T20:39:00.001+01:00

Another complete day off all exercise today.

Day 66 - Tuesday 17th August: Gym class + Stanford 5

2010-08-17T20:40:00.003+01:00

Gym class
LBT: 60 minutes

Did the hour-long LBT session at the gym this morning, to make the best use of my time off this week. Just the two of us doing the class, and the instructor really made it count since I was there (she likes to see me in pain). I survived though, and even the "killer" stability ball exercise was easy (but don't tell Amy!)

Run: 5.09 miles
Time: 44 minutes 56 seconds

A steady 45 minute run this evening with splits of 9:12 (warm-up), 8:59, 8:39, 8:18 & 8:55 (warm-down). I set off to do a couple of "outer" laps of the village in about 40 minutes, and ended up doing three and a bit laps in 45, with a good steady run speeding up on each lap, until the last where I took it easy to wind down to finish...

Day 65 - Monday 16th August: Long swim

2010-08-16T21:58:00.002+01:00

Distance: 1550 metres

Time: 55 minutes

I got to the pool earlier than usual, to give me plenty of time for today's swim. En route I realised I'd just about have time to swim a mile (64½ lengths), and wish I'd set off five minutes earlier. I set off at a comfortable pace, in a rather narrow "fast" lane, since a third of the pool was roped off for a lifeguard lesson. There were about three others swimming in the fast lane, one of whom was quite speedy indeed.

I did my best to keep going, only pausing briefly every two lengths, turning and kicking straight off the wall in between. After a while all the others got out, leaving me alone to complete the last 20 or so lengths alone. When I reached 50 lengths, the lifeguard told me to change lanes, as the training session had ended and they were removing the lane I was in. His timing wasn't great as I was just about to kick off for my 51st length.

With less than 15 minutes to go, it would be close to get another 14+ lengths in, but I kept going, hoping to make it. I know I can usually do the last couple a bit faster, but in the end, it wasn't to be. I'd set off on my 61st trip up the pool, and the ladies waiting for their aquaerobics class started to get things ready, and invaded the fast lane. On the return length I could barely get through... which was a bit annoying as there were still a few minutes to go until the clock said it was 8. I sprinted the last half and got out. Just 2½ lengths off swimming a mile. Oh well. Next time...

Day 64 - Sunday 15th August: Hanney 15

2010-08-15T20:36:00.002+01:00

Run: 15.01 miles
Time: 2 hours 26 minutes 46 seconds

This weekend sees the beginning of the end of my training. The first of the "big five" training runs: 15, 16, 18, 20 & 22 miles. Then a couple of shorter ones during the taper zone before I attempt another 26.2 miles in October.

Today's run began well, I was trying to convince myself to keep my pace down to about 10-minute miles so I could easily cover the distance, but by mile 3 I was feeling really good, and had naturally sped up a bit. Southmoor came & went and I was still feeling good. The wind was behind me on the southerly road to Hanney, by which time I was feeling a bit tired, but still pretty good. It was only on the road out that the run seemed to get harder, but I told myself there's "only 5 miles" to go.

I kept up a reasonable pace, just dipping over the 10-minute miles, but I was getting low on water, and at one point my legs really did feel like they didn't have the energy to run all the way back home, in spite of having taken two lucozade gels on the way round to keep me going (at miles 5 & 10). So I dug deep and kept going, and even managed to convince myself to speed up a bit, on the reasoning that the sooner I got back, the sooner I could have a long cold drink and a post-run strawberry flapjack.

That seemed to do the trick, and I made my fastest mile at the end of the run, which was doubly good considering how tired and mentally run down I was feeling by then. I think the problem is that I haven't got back into the habit of eating lots of pasta yet, which is what I've always done before by this stage in my training. I shall remedy that over the coming weeks as I enter the toughest stage of my preparation for Loch Ness.

Day 63 - Saturday 14th August: Stanford outer lap

2010-08-14T23:01:00.002+01:00

Run: 2.07 miles
Time: 19 minutes 47 seconds

Just a gentle evening jog to bring my mileage total since the Edinburgh Marathon to 222.22 miles. My total for August is already over 58 miles. I was going to do my long run today, but given the hit & miss nature of the weather again, I've opted for the promise of better conditions tomorrow. I felt I couldn't have a complete rest day, so took it very easy to run round to Mum & Dad's, pause my Garmin, and then jog home again later.

To check out my runs in more detail, click on the "View Details" link at the bottom of the map object above. This takes you to the run on the Garmin Connect website. You can then change to the "Player" tab (instead of the Details tab), and then you have video-like controls to "play" the run so you can see where I went.

Day 62 - Friday 13th August: Treadmill

2010-08-13T21:00:00.002+01:00

Distance: 4.11 miles (6.62km)

Time: 40 minutes

I couldn't decide whether to run indoors or out today. There were heavy rain showers off and on. I was tired & feeling unmotivated having been to a friend's wedding yesterday (and perhaps having indulged in one or two glasses of wine too many, oops).

Since I was lacking in the get up & go, and didn't relish getting soaked too, I decided to let the gym do the running for me, all I had to do was stay in one place and keep up.

I chose the Faringdon gym for a change, to re-familiarise myself with the equipment there, as I'd quite like to do the "10k Gym challenge" there soon.

Very surprisingly for a treadmill run (especially one of 40 minutes), it wasn't mind numbingly tedious. Or maybe it was and it was my run-down mood that meant I failed to notice?

Anyway, I took it pretty easy, and covered a reasonable distance on a hilly profile (flat / 2 / flat / 4 / flat / 6 / flat / 6 / flat), running about 10-11 km/h.

Day 61 - Thursday 12th August: Rest

2010-08-12T10:13:00.001+01:00

Day off today.

Day 60 - Wednesday 11th August: new LBT class

2010-08-11T22:18:00.001+01:00

Gym class
LBT: 45 minutes

Since the beginning of August there's a new timetable for the gym classes. Out goes Stability Ball. Out goes Body Burn 50/50. LBT is extended to 45 minutes, and brought forward to 6.15pm. All to make way for a new Body Pump class, which sounds a bit too intense for me. So now I'm down from 4 classes on a Wednesday evening to 1, if that. Getting to the 6.16pm class is a bit of a pain, as it means I have to leave work during the busy rush-hour period and travelling to Wantage & getting changed in under half an hour is a bit of a squeeze. And because the class finishes at 7pm, I'm not hanging about for over 1½ hours to go to Yogalates too. I'm not a happy gym bunny.

I may try Body Combat just to see what it's really like, but the classes I go to have been chosen to improve my core, invaluable as a runner. Body Pump strikes me as a bit too much cardio and not enough core fitness. I could try aquacise instead? That might be more suitable - doing a zero impact class.

So, the new LBT is actually quite good, but seems I'll have to book ahead if I want to go again. There were six of us, plus the instructor, and that's the maximum the tiny room will hold. It was still a bit of a squeeze as it was. Amy did her best to break me, as usual, and, as usual, was happy when she did. I failed on one of the squats, as I couldn't get straight up & down into the next one, having just held the squat for a count of eight. I do like the new class - the extra 15 minutes means we have time to really get a good workout - normally the half hour flies by, especially with the warm up and stretch down time.

We did loads of ab crunches too. 8 normal ones (knees bent, feet on floor). Then one foot crossed over the other knee - 8 twisting up to meet the opposite knee. Swap legs. Three repeats of 8 each, and a fourth repeat of 4 each.

Next 8 normal, 8 with knees bent at 90º, 8 with legs straight up. These were hard. I had to rest my feet back down on the floor instead. Three repeats of each type. Then lastly lower abs with legs out straight on the floor, toes pointed. 8 of these then 8 lifting one leg up and down. 8 with the other leg. Another 3 repeats of each. She worked us hard!

Overall a good class, but a shame I don't get the 2¾ hour workout I used to on a Wednesday.

Day 59 - Tuesday 10th August: Stanford 8 laps

2010-08-10T22:41:00.002+01:00

Run: 8.44 miles
Time: 1 hours 5 minutes 20 seconds

Another speedy run this evening. The plan was a "brisk 60 minutes". Having run 7.62 miles in an hour last week, I thought I'd go for it again, but this time carry on for 8 laps (of the slightly shorter variety - just over a mile each). If I matched last Thursday's pace, I could run 8 miles in about 63 minutes.

A slight spanner in the works - it rained today. All day. The thought of going for a fast run in the rain was not appealing. Luckily it had stopped and was quickly clearing up by about 6pm and by the time I got home it had brightened up a lot, so I got changed, and set off with my sunglasses into the evening sun. The pavement was a bit slippy when I set off, so I took it carefully to begin with, but was soon running at a comfortable sub 8-minute-mile pace.

I'd set off counterclockwise again (despite thinking I'd change direction this week), so was putting in the fast sections in the same places as before - but not quite as distinct as last time. I kept my overall pace faster, and the "sprint" sections not quite as fast as last time. This was a deliberate choice to make sure I could keep up this "10k" pace for the full 8+ miles. I didn't want to burn out on the sprints, or worse - risk an injury by slipping on the wet pavement if I was going too fast.

By the end of mile 4, my average times have drifted from 7m45s a mile down to 7m48s. Can I do a negative split to get the average back down? Or will the second half prove tougher? As long as I can keep it under 8 minutes a mile I'll be happy. Once mile 5 is finished, however, I can feel I've got enough in me to keep pushing through miles 6, 7 & 8 to beat my 63 minute target.

The sun is low in the sky, and I ditch my shades as I pass my car, now I don't need them to blot out the glare as I run directly into the light. I up my pace, just a bit, I still have three miles to do, and I know I'm tiring. I don't want to blow up too soon, but I do want to run as fast as I comfortably can.

Mile 6 is good, mile 7 whizzes by in a blur and then I'm still going for it - I'm on my last mile.
I reach 7.73 miles in an hour; 8 miles in under 62 minutes; and the full 8 laps in 65 minutes.
According to the Lucozade Sport website, this kind of pace could mean a Half Marathon in 1h44m and (get this!) a Full Marathon in 3h37m

Day 58 - Monday 9th August: Short swim

2010-08-09T20:29:00.002+01:00

Swim: 400 metres

Time: 15 minutes

I managed to forget my goggles this evening, so even though I remembered my new "Zoggs" nose clip (which I hope will be more snugly fitting than my old "Speedo" one), I was not properly prepared for my swim. Oh well, I was there - I'd just have to see how I got on. The first few lengths were ok, and if anything I was swimming faster as I didn't like having my face under water. However after ten lengths I could tell I was struggling.

I switched from crawl to breaststroke to save my eyes, but I'm rubbish at breaststroke, so tried alternating 1 length of each, and after three of each was still really struggling with my eyes. Not so much the stinging (the chlorine wasn't that strong), but with my breathing. I don't know why not being able to see comfortably made breathing less comfortable too?

So I gave up after 16 lengths, got showered and dressed, and when I got in my car I noticed how red and bloodshot my eyes had become in just 15 minutes. I suspect if I'd persevered to my usual 40 lengths, that I'd have been in danger of not being able to see to drive home safely!

Day 57 - Sunday 8th August: Hanney 12 + 2

2010-08-08T22:56:00.001+01:00

Run: 14.06 miles
Time: 2 hours 17 minutes 00 seconds

I left my weekend long slow run until this evening, and set off towards Hanney planning to run 12 miles (6 miles there and back), followed by a couple of miles running around Stanford when I got back. I chose this instead of picking a 14 mile route, as I knew dusk would be approaching after a couple of hours, and I didn't want to still be out on the road when the light started to go, so I needed to be back on the safety of the village pavements. Well it seemed like a good plan at the time...

Everything went well for the first 6 or 7 miles, I was averaging about 9m40s per mile, perhaps a bit faster than planned, but still feeling good. Once I'd passed the half way point, the wind against me picked up, which only served to make the second half feel a lot tougher, as now I was mostly running due west, so hit the wind on each exposed section of road. I also had to contend with the odd psychological barrier I'd set myself, knowing that on a normal run - at 7 miles I'd have just 5 to go. But today I know I need to run 2 more before I get home, which may not seem like much, but since I hadn't planned exactly where I was going to run these extra couple of miles, it made it harder work than otherwise it would have been if I was still out on the road.

When I got back to Stanford, I turned right, and it felt wrong. I felt tired and could quite easily have called it a day and headed straight home, in about half a mile, but I kept going. And going. And going. I ran all round the village to make sure I chalked up the necessary distance, and even put enough dogged determination into the end of it to clock my fastest mile of the run (after having not long run the two slowest miles too). Overall a hard run, but a good one all the same.

Day 56 - Saturday 7th August: hatford half hour

2010-08-07T13:11:00.000+01:00

Run: 3.14 miles
Time: 29 minutes 46 seconds

A gentle 5k loop to loosen my legs up after the speedwork I've done this week.

Followed by the daily 100 sit-ups, bringing my total to 860 in 12 days.

Day 55 - Friday 6th August: Dry Tri

2010-08-06T23:21:00.000+01:00

"Dry tri" gym challenge

2k row: 8m 03s

5k bike: 9m 11s

3k run: 14m 56s

I couldn't decide what to do today. Originally it was supposed to be a day off ending with a curry - but that fell through. So what exercise should I do instead? First I was going to cycle to work and back. Then I thought I'd drive to work, and run home the long way (14 miles), and then cycle back to fetch my car. However after yesterday's super speedy run, I didn't feel quite up to so much exercise, so opted for a quick gym challenge instead.

The first time I did this 10k, I managed it in 33 minutes 43 seconds. Then a couple of weeks later I went back and did it again. I rowed faster, ran faster, but cycled slower, so my time was 34 minutes 33 seconds. Today, however, I went for it! I rowed 3 seconds outside my previous best, but cycled over a minute faster than last time, and then ran almost a minute quicker too! So on my 3rd attempt, I've set a PB for this 10k of 32 minutes 10 seconds.

To top it off, I did another 100 sit-ups for the #absofsteel challenge.

Day 54 - Thursday 5th August: Stanford - 7 laps

2010-08-05T22:21:00.003+01:00

Run: 7.62 miles
Time: 59 minutes 59 seconds

This evening's plan was a brisk 60 minutes, so I decided to run 6 laps of the 1.1 mile circuit round the village, thinking at about 9 minutes a lap I could add an extra 5-minute loop at the end to clock up the hour. To make sure I did brisk laps I thought I'd run a couple of sections a bit faster than the rest - the first up the short stretch of "hill" up Glebe Road, and then a longer section from the turning of Joyces Road down along the A417 past the Horse & Jockey to the High Street. I took the first lap "steady" and was pleased to run the first mile in 8:08, so tried to up the pace, with the faster sections on the next lap onwards.

Could I make all 6 laps at an 8-minute pace? At this rate I can also easily run another half lap and cut through the new estate to get back home in the hour and that would be over 7 miles. As each lap passed I expected to need to slow down - having only run this kind of pace over 5 miles before. Or I'd have to stop when crossing a side road to give way to a car coming in or out, and this would throw my pace right off, but luckily the only car I saw, saw me in good time and stopped to wave me on, so I barely missed a beat.

Things just got better and on the "last" lap, number 6, I worked out if I cut through the footpath and up Church Path, then I should just about be able to make most of a 7th lap too, so I went for it. The 7th lap was hard to start with, I could feel I was flagging. The sprint up the short hill knocked me for a bit, I could feel myself wobbling as I was running further than planned (and faster), but I ignored my inner doubt, and just told myself to get on with it, it wasn't far to go. Keep it up and I'd make 7½ miles in an hour. So I kept up a good pace to finish, and managed another sprint up Church Path, less than 30 seconds to go to get home... and I made it all the way back home, with 1 second to spare, even avoiding being run over by my brother-in-law.

Day 53 - Wednesday 4th August: Rest

2010-08-04T18:54:00.000+01:00

Another day off all exercise today, and instead will be enjoying Toy Story 3 instead. Back to it tomorrow...

Day 52 - Tuesday 3rd August: Steventon Hill

2010-08-03T21:00:00.002+01:00

Run: 3.71 miles
Time: 34 minutes 10 seconds

Tried out a new route today - out of Milton Park, along the railway line into Steventon, up a steep hill, down a fast road (luckily with a pavement along it) and across the busy A34 dual carriageway roundabout (pausing at the lights). This makes a refreshing change from the Milton village route, which is pretty much flat all the way around. I like this new route, and will definitely be going for it again.

Then when I got home, I did another 100 sit-ups as part of a 4-week "abs of steel" challenge that was laid down by a friend on Twitter.

Day 51 - Monday 2nd August: Swim

2010-08-02T20:54:00.002+01:00

Swim: 1000 metres

Time: ~35 minutes

Another 40 lengths in the pool this evening, and I did it in under 35 minutes because for the most part I only stopped every other length. After a few lengths I felt I didn't actually need a breather, and was only stopping out of force of habit, so for the remaining half hour I swam up the pool and back down again straight away. If only I knew how to turn - I'd be even better at it...!

Day 50 - Sunday 1st August: Stanford in the Vale Half Marathon

2010-08-01T20:00:00.002+01:00

Run: 13.18 miles
Time: 1 hour 59 minutes 07 seconds

Today's training run called for 13 miles, so I did a half marathon distance, knocking off about 3 minutes for this route. I wanted to do it in about 2 hours, and made it fairly comfortably.

So far then, in 50 days of training I have spent 51 hours doing the following:
Run 27 times 162.82 miles
Cycle 7 times 91.21 miles
Swim 6 times 4900 metres
Row 2 times 4000 metres
Squash 1 time 5 games 1 hour
and been to 21 classes at the gym

There are 63 days to go until the Loch Ness Marathon, which will mean another couple of hundred miles before the big day.

Day 49 - Saturday 31st July: Hatford loop

2010-07-31T19:25:00.000+01:00

Run: 2.46 miles
Time: 21 minutes 02 seconds

Today's run called for a "10 minute jog", but that hardly seemed worth lacing my trainers up for, so I decided to run out to Hatford & back, in about 20 minutes or so. This takes me comfortably over the 100 mile mark for July, and means I've also clocked up 495 miles in my "new" trainers which I bought in February. One more long run in them, and I'll break out a brand new pair to last me the rest of the year.

Day 48 - Friday 30th July: Rest

2010-07-30T18:15:00.001+01:00

I was planning to cycle to work today, but when I woke up I decided I simply didn't have enough energy.

I've already run over 20 miles this week, swam 1k, been to 4 gym classes and done a 10k gym challenge.

Added to that I don't seem to be able to get myself off to bed before midnight, so I need a day off today.

This is no bad thing, and I think that I should be more careful to ensure I schedule complete rest days into my training plan.

Back to a gentle run tomorrow (to take me over 100 miles run in July), followed by a half marathon distance training run on Sunday.

Day 47 - Thursday 29th July: Run & Dry Tri

2010-07-29T23:28:00.002+01:00

Run: 4.08 miles
Time: 35 minutes 45 seconds

"Dry tri" gym challenge
2k row: 8m 00s
5k bike: 10m 54s
3k run: 15m 39s

A steady-to-brisk 4 mile run at lunch, with a good -ve split. Sunny, but not too hot, and a gentle breeze. Good running conditions.

Then after work, in spite of feeling a bit achy from yesterday's exertions, I did the row/bike/run gym challenge. The set the rower to 10 to make it more challenging (last time I did it on 6), and I knocked 10 seconds off the time. Then I did 5k on the bike set to 6, but upped it to 7. However I was taking it too steady (I'm not used to gym cycling, so find it hard to set a good pace), and did this section about a minute slower than last time. Finally I did 3k on the treadmill. I set the incline to 5, and the speed to 12 km/h - but this was too much, so slowed it down gradually to 11 km/h and the include down to 4, and then down to 3. I upped the speed for the last few hundred metres to 13 km/h - and managed to shave 9 seconds off the last go. Overall 10k in 34m33s (compared to 33m43s when I did it 2½ weeks ago).

Last of all I did another 60 sit-ups on the 4-week "abs of steel" plan.

Day 46 - Wednesday 28th July: Mixed bag

2010-07-28T23:51:00.000+01:00

Run: 3.43 miles
Time: 30 minutes 00 seconds

Gym classes
Stability Ball: 30 minutes
LBT: 30 minutes
50/50: 45 minutes
LBT: 1 hour

A steady lunchtime run today, where I averaged roughly 9-minute-miles, but with a few fartleks thrown in to speed things up a little.

Then after work off to the gym for what, sadly, turned out to be my last 4-class session. As of next week the timetable will change, and there'll be no more stability ball or body-burn 50/50 classes. And LBT is brought forward to 6.15pm making it harder to get to. Oh well.

Between LBT & 50/50 today I nipped into the gym for 5 minutes to do 100 sit-ups on the ab roller. These didn't feel quite right because you use too much of your arms and not enough of your abs.

After 50/50 and it's on to.... another LBT class. The Yogalates teacher is on holiday, so it's my 4th class with Amy this evening, and since there were just three of us, she made it a tough one. I couldn't manage all of it, some of the leg raises proved just a bit too much today.

To wrap things off, I nipped back to the gym and asked Amy to show me how to use the ab roller properly, and she said to be honest I'm much better off doing proper ab crunches and not using my arms at all. So I did 50 normal sit-ups.

Day 45 - Tuesday 27th July: 1k swim

2010-07-27T20:47:00.002+01:00

Distance: 1km

Crawl: 40 lengths

Another good session in the pool. It was quite busy this evening, but I stuck to the "fast lane", alternately being overtaken and overtaking other swimmers. There were about 5 of us at one point - and I was the slowest. Two girls steadily swam back & forth without stopping, so overtook me every 4-5 lengths. Two blokes who were obviously faster than me stopped every two lengths for a huge breather. I guess they were timing themselves against the pool clock, and had to keep waiting for the next minute to clock up before setting off again.

Overall though, it was good - as I made the 40 lengths in about 35 minutes.

Then when I got home and my pasta-egg-mayo-noodles&peas was cooking, I did 70 crunches as part of a new daily plan to do 60-100 sit-ups - called "abs of steel" (thanks to @Sall_y on twitter).

Day 44 - Monday 26th July: Hanney 12

2010-07-26T21:47:00.002+01:00

Run: 12.00 miles
Time: 1 hour 56 minutes 44 seconds

After my birthday weekend seeing loads of bands at the Truck Festival in Steventon, it was back to the training today, and the delayed weekend 12-miler. I set off at a steady pace, and stuck to it. I wanted to take it slow, about 10-minute-mile pace, but not any slower than that, and actually made it a bit faster completing exactly 12 miles in just 45 seconds more than it took to run the Milton Keynes Half.

Day 43 - Sunday 25th July: Rest

2010-07-25T16:37:00.001+01:00

Another day off today, as it's day two of the Truck music festival. I shall be running this week's LSR tomorrow instead.

Day 42 - Saturday 24th July: Milk run

2010-07-24T09:40:00.000+01:00

Run: 1.26 miles
Time: 10 minutes 59 seconds

Just a short gentle jog down to the shop for milk, and a slightly more brisk run back again. I couldn't face not running all weekend long!

Day 41 - Friday 23rd July: Rest

2010-07-23T22:19:00.001+01:00

Day off today after yesterday's super speed session. It's my birthday today too. So if you feel like giving me a present, please give £2 to the RNLI instead http://bit.ly/madfrogrunsagain thanks!

Day 40 - Thursday 22nd July: Stanford - 5 laps

2010-07-22T22:45:00.002+01:00

Run: 5.33 miles
Time: 41 minutes 08 seconds

A "brisk" 5 miles, getting faster on each lap. Splits of:
8m08s - 7m45s - 7m41s - 7m37s - 7m27s

I was planning to run my regular Milton 5 mile route, and go for it in 40 minutes today, but didn't feel up to the challenge at lunchtime. I thought perhaps I'd visit the Park Gym after work and try out a fast treadmill run (they've been taken over by SOLL, so I may enquire about upgrading my existing membership). In the end though I decided I needed to run a fast outdoor run.

I planned to set off at a good pace, clockwise round the village, and then speed up along the straight alongside the A417, trying to get faster on the uphill section, and then back to a steady-to-brisk pace for the other two thirds of the lap. Lap one felt so good, when I clocked up an 8:08 mile, that I decided to up the ante, and run a negative/negative/negative/negative/negative split - trying to run each lap faster than the last - meaning I'd also run the 5 miles in under 40 minutes.

It was a tough challenge, but I was more than up to it. And I've smashed my best time for this run by nearly 3 minutes from... 1 year ago today - Weds 22nd July 2009! Maybe my subconscious runner is trying to hold onto lost youth before the turn of the day, and another candle is added to the cake of my life?

Day 39 - Wednesday 21st July: Milton 3

2010-07-21T23:50:00.002+01:00

Run: 3.23 miles
Time: 30 minutes 22 seconds

Fairly gentle 3 mile lunchtime run. Where my Garmin lied about the starting point again. Apparently I was running a 3m55s/mile pace at one point. Roger Bannister, I am not. I wish I knew the trick to getting it to correctly locate me more quickly.

Day 38 - Tuesday 20th July: Charney 8

2010-07-20T21:14:00.002+01:00

Run: 7.81 miles
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes 34 seconds

Just a gentle run this evening. Supposed to be 65 minutes, but that was still working from the "beginners" marathon training plan. Since I'm now a bit more than a beginner, I decided to up it by ten minutes. I even tried a few fartleks too - but nothing too serious. I chose a few telegraph poles and a roadsign along the way and ran faster to them for probably not much more than about 10-15 yards each time. I was conscious to not try to up the overall pace too much, until the last mile or so when I ran a bit faster for longer sections.

Overall a pretty good run, apart from the bit where I got a small fly in my mouth. I'm not sure if I managed to spit it out, swallow it or breath it in! Whatever - it upset my pace a little, half way through. Stupid blimmin things, what are they for?

Day 37 - Monday 19th July: Swim

2010-07-19T21:33:00.002+01:00

Distance: 1km

Crawl: 40 lengths

Wanting to beat the distance I swam last week, I made sure I was at the pool earlier again today. I was in the pool at 7.22pm - giving me just 38 minutes before the aqua class to get in at least 33 lengths. Not a problem, I average about 1 length per minute, including the rest at the end. Having never learned how to turn - I just take a quick breather before setting off again.

I reached 20 lengths in just under 20 minutes, so was on plan to make at least 36 or 38, though 40 would be a bit of a squeeze. However, someone else joined the "fast" lane, and she was going just a bit faster than me, so I had to cut down the dawdling at the ends, and keep swimming back & forth to keep out of her way. This was perfect for me! Again, I've benefited from a pacemaker, and completed 38 lengths with 5 minutes to spare, giving me the chance to sprint the last two. And I wasn't even tired at the end!

Day 36 - Sunday 18th July: MK Half Marathon

2010-07-18T22:05:00.001+01:00

Run: 13.1 miles
Time: 1 hour 56 minutes 9 seconds

Up early this morning, double portion of oatsosimple & banana, and off to Milton Keynes to run the 2010 NSPCC Half Marathon. Given that it's just a training run, I wasn't aiming to beat my 1h50m PB today. Anything under 2 hours would be good.

I got there just before 9am, and bumped into Michelle, from the Realbuzz forum, straight away. We chatted in the cool morning for a while, waiting for Sooks to arrive (another Buzzer). We couldn't tell if it was going to warm up, it looked pretty grey... but by about quarter to 10 the sun was out, and we head to the start line to get ready. With only about 1200 runners, there's not a huge queue to get over the start line, and at 10am on the dot we're off.

The route takes a combination of cycle paths, footpaths and towpaths, so is almost completely off the roads. I'm wearing my shades as I like to keep flies & dust out of my eyes as much as the sun, which is still struggling to make a big impression on the day. At least that means it's fairly cool, pretty good running weather.

Mile 3 comes up pretty quickly, and I go to pick up some water which I was planning to keep until mile 4 to take a drink with my first gel. However I hadn't realised that the water is in plastic cups, not bottles, so isn't possible to carry for a mile! Oh well, I gulp down my gel a bit earlier than planned. And struggle to drink from the cup on the run, so have to stop to a slow walk to be able to not get it all over my face and up my nose...

I follow a number of other runners who seem to be sticking to a 8m50s - 9m per mile pace, which is spot on to get me round in about 1h55m - 1h58m. Sometimes I overtake, sometimes they over take me. I find running like this takes my mind off it, and helps keep me going a bit faster than I'd normally be used to when I'm out in the countryside on my own.

Between miles 6 & 7 I'm confident that I'm on course for sub 2-hours, and depending on how much faster I can run the second half, I might even make 1h55m... however I wasn't prepared for the final section which had some rather tough "hills". The route towards the end (miles 8-10½) follows the canal towpath, and every time there's a bridge over the water, the towpath goes up and down to meet the bridge. These short sharp inclines are strength sapping.

About mile 8½ I take my second gel, and have just about sussed out how to drink from a plastic cup without spilling it all over myself. When it kicks in at ten miles I up the pace, and leave behind the girl I'd been using as my pacemaker. Although I know I'm going to finish comfortably under 2 hours, I still want to get back in as good a time as I feel I can push out of myself today.

Then there's the hill at the end too, where they've moved the Start line round the corner to be on the school playing field. I guess I'd expected the Finish line to be where the Start line was. I'm sprinting up the hill to where it was, and it's not there. Maybe it's just out of sight round the corner? No! There's a final loop to do up to the corner of the playing field, and then up a grass straight for a proper sprint finish. I'm so pleased that I've made it, I almost forget to stop my Garmin, but do so on 1h56m09s - about a minute slower than I thought I might do it, but still pretty good considering the profile of the route for the last 5 miles.

I grab my goodies (medal, banana, water, nature valley bar), and retrieve my bag. I stretch, and then get changed, before flopping out on the grass and closing my eyes for about ten minutes before I look out for the other two to finish. After about five minutes I spot Michelle - she's standing by the fence near the Finish line looking out for Sooks! She'd already finished about ten minutes earlier, and I missed her as I was having a power nap! We both cheer on Sukeallia as she crosses the line, and then we sit around enjoying the sun and chatting about the race, and what other plans we have to come.

Then we make our way back to the car parks, and head off homeward! Overall a pretty good Half Marathon, and one I'd recommend. I may do it again next year, depending on how it fits in to other plans!

Back at home, and it's not long before the official times are up on the website, and I've done it in 1h56m09s - exactly what I'd recorded on my Garmin!

Day 35 - Saturday 17th July: Stanford 2

2010-07-17T21:11:00.002+01:00

Run: 2.17 miles
Time: 22 minutes 06 seconds

Just a very gentle couple of miles today to loosen my legs up before tomorrow's Half Marathon. I left it late so it was cool to run, but then was keen to get out and get on with it, having put it off all day, so I managed to get going before my Garmin had fully picked up where I was...

More carbs and early to bed, I've got a very early start in the morning!

Day 34 - Friday 16th July: Rest

2010-07-17T11:45:00.001+01:00

Another day off today. I was thinking of cycling to work, but with a half marathon on Sunday I need to "taper". Glad I didn't cycle, did you see how windy it was?

Day 33 - Thursday 15th July: Treadmill hill interval fartleks

2010-07-15T23:01:00.002+01:00

Distance: 6.22km (3.86 miles)

Time: 40m00s

Today I was due a steady 40 minutes, but fancied something a bit different, so tried out a new hill profile on the treadmill. 40 minutes broken down into twelve 3.333 minute sections. I took the first one easy to warm up, and try to gauge what was going to happen. After a while it felt a bit slow, so I upped the pace a little. The first "hill" seemed a bit gentle too, but I'd decided that I wanted to do some speed play (or "fartleks" in Swedish). This basically means doing short sprints within a long run. They can be any length you want. Out on the road you can just say to yourself "I'm going to run really fast to the next tree/lamppost/telegraph pole/etc." On the treadmill it's less fun, you just have to whack up the speed for a bit. So I left the hill pattern alone, and didn't alter the gradients.

After the first hill, I did a minute sprint on the flat. I was thinking I'd do anywhere between 30 seconds and a minute, but it felt good - mostly because I wasn't sprinting flat out, so I stuck to this pattern. Somewhere on each flat section - I ran fast for a minute. All except the last one, where I ran slow for 50 seconds, fast for a minute, slow for 40 seconds, fast for 30 seconds then slow for 20 seconds to finish. And then a minute to cool down.

1 gradient 0 8.5km/h

2 gradient 0 9km/h

3 gradient 2 8.5km/h

4 gradient 0 9km/h + 1 min 13km/h

5 gradient 3 8.5km/h

6 gradient 0 9km/h + 1 min 13km/h

7 gradient 4 8km/h

8 gradient 0 9km/h + 1 min 13.5km/h

9 gradient 6 7.7k/h

10 gradient 0 9km/h

11 gradient 6 7.7km/h

12 gradient 0 9km/h + 1 min 13.5km/h + 30s 15km/h

Disappointingly I still ran a shorter distance than I would have done on the road, but then a steady 40 minute run would only normally cover about 4¼ miles, so I wasn't that far off.

Day 32 - Wednesday 14th July: Gym classes

2010-07-14T22:37:00.003+01:00

Stability Ball: 30 minutes

LBT: 30 minutes

Body Burn 50/50: 45 minutes

Yogalates: 1 hour

For a change this week, I was not the only bloke doing Stability Ball. Amy promised us the tough exercise we did last week, but I had to admit I couldn't remember it. I think I must've blocked out the pain..? The half hour whizzed by, and the other three left.

Onto Legs, Bums & Tums (not Lettuce, Bacon & Tomato) - and I'm the only participant. This is great, 'cos I get a half hour 1:1 personal training session, tailored just to me! Amy decides to make it quite tough, especially when I tell her I can't feel the burn in the lunges. She makes me hold the lunge at the bottom and keep it there for a count of about 100. Ok, it was just 8, but boy did I feel the burn! She gave me tips about crunches, and got me to do some twisting ones whilst she threw a medicine ball at me, not one you can do in a full class.

Next up it's 50/50 and this is mostly easy compared to the previous half hour. That is until we do squats, followed by balancing on one leg, at which point the burning lunges from LBT take their toll...

Lastly I finish the evening with an hour's Yogalates, which has some new moves which I find hard. One is lying on your side, propped up on one arm, lifting both legs up off the floor, and moving them back and forth in a scissors movement. Sounds easy? You should try it (after 2½ hours exercise first!)

Day 31 - Tuesday 13th July: Milton 5

2010-07-13T21:30:00.001+01:00

Run: 4.97 miles
Time: 44 minutes 51 seconds

A steady lunchtime run. I couldn't afford to set a brisk pace today, as I'm running the Milton Keynes Half Marathon on Sunday. So it wasn't hard work this time, but in spite of that I got round in 9-minute-miles. I think the cool, damp climate helped there, as I wasn't struggling in the heat. The heavy rain held off until a while after my return, so luckily it was the ideal weather to go.

Since I'd felt a bit of soreness in my left adductor towards the end of Saturday's ten-miler, I decided I should book myself in for a sports massage. I'd planned to have one about now anyway, but when you get a niggle it's definitely worth getting your legs checked over for a bit of routine maintenance before an unchecked niggle turns itself into a more serious pain - or worse still an injury.

Sammy from Inside & Out Body Therapy soon discovered that the slight pain in my thigh was most likely caused by over-tightness in my calf. This may have been brought on by the increase in cycling I've been doing, or maybe just the volume of running. I've been training proper for a month now, and in 17 runs I've knocked up just under 90 miles. Apart from a tight left calf, things seemed to be pretty much ok. She commented that my quads were better than normal - just before she found a tight knot in my left quad, needing a bit of elbow work to loosen up. Ouch!

Day 30 - Monday 12th July: 800m swim

2010-07-12T22:52:00.002+01:00

Distance: 800m

Crawl: 32 lengths

Got to the pool a bit earlier this week, so had just over half an hour to get my swim in. I wanted to beat last week's 30 lengths, and was easily going to get to 32 in the 30 minutes, however about 5 to 8 the lifeguard removed the lane separator in readiness for the aquaerobics class. So I finished my last two on a sprint, and left a couple of minutes before 8pm. That way I can beat the distance again next week!

Day 29 - Sunday 11th July: Dry Tri 10k

2010-07-11T20:05:00.005+01:00

2k Row: 8m10s
3k Run: 15m48s
5k Bike: 9m45s

I've taken up the great gym challenge for a bit of fun with other members of the realbuzz community, or Buzzers as we're otherwise known. Although so far only two of us have signed up to take part!

After a 5 minute warm up on the treadmill, I decided to start the challenge today with the 2000m row. I set the resistance to 5 (half way) and set off at an eager 32 strokes per minute. I normally row one or two 500m sprints in under 2 minutes each, so 8m10 was pretty good for the full 2k.

After a quick breather and top up on water I'm back on the treadmill for the next part of the challenge. I set the incline to 3 and the distance to 3.0k and I'm off, setting the pace up to 12.5kph although I slacken this off a little at half way. I'm sure I once ran 5 miles at a 12kph pace, so thought I should be able to go a bit faster for less than 2 miles. But that was in the Didcot gym, and this is Wantage, so it's quite possible that one or other of the treadmills is not calibrated very accurately. 15m48s feels a bit slow for 1.86 miles, as I reckon I could do that out on the road easily in under 15 minutes.

Lastly I'm on the bike for the 5k cycle. I set the resistance to 4 and set off at a steady pace. I'm not used to cycling any particular distance or speed on the bike in the gym, as usually I just do a 5 or 10 minute stint. Again out of the road I can easily manage 3 miles in under 12 minutes. How will that compare when I'm not going anywhere - or indeed having to propel my own bodyweight along the road? It turns out I make the 5000m in under 10 minutes which is doable on a real bike, but normally only when there's a downhill involved!

So my first attempt at this challenge is complete. I'll have some more goes at it, and see if I can shave some time off. I might try another gym too to see how different equipment compares!

Day 28 - Saturday 10th July: Charney 10

2010-07-10T12:19:00.002+01:00

Run: 10.01 miles
Time: 1 hour 41 minutes 30 seconds

The weather forecast for the weekend was scorchio, so I decided if I woke up early enough I'd try to get out for my run early today. Sure enough, I was awake before 6am and could already feel the day warming up. Microporridge & a banana later and I'm ready to hit the road. I'd put my water bottle and Lucozade Sport in the fridge last night. Suncream on, and I'm off. I deliberately keep it slow to run a gentle ten miles. I'm doing a Half Marathon next Sunday, so need to take it easy today.

The run is good, it's not too hot, and I take on water in small sips - little and often. At one point the mild wind drops to nothing, and I can feel that I'm hot. I'm regretting having had a hot breakfast. Luckily when I turn the corner the breeze picks up, just enough to keep me cool. The miles fly by, even though I'm running slower than usual.

In Lyford just about half way, and a fly buzzes in my ear so I have to shake my head vigorously to dislodge it. Just this little thing knocks me off my stride, and the second half of the run is slower. That's ok, I don't push myself to pick up the pace. I'm still going to get back in around 100 minutes, so I'm on plan.

A couple of kites are up over Charney Bassett, flying high trying to pick up the thermals, whilst down on the ground a cool breeze is welcome on my face. I'm on the homeward stretch now, and looking forward to getting in for a refreshing shower to cool off. Not long and I reach the straight to Gainfield and I can see the woods at the crossroads to Buckland ahead. They look so close, yet they're still ¾-mile away - just under 8 minutes.

Soon though I'm back in Stanford, and although I'm flagging, I know I'm nearly done now. I want to make it to 10 miles, so I run an extra little loop to clock up the full distance. Realistically it makes no difference if I run 9.9 miles or 10 - but psychologically it's a big boost to my training plan to get to double figures, so the extra minute running round the green is worth it to me.

So weekend LSR done, and it's only just gone 9am - I'd normally still be fast asleep in bed at this time!

Day 27 - Friday 9th July: Rest

2010-07-09T20:24:00.002+01:00

No exercise today. A ten miler planned for tomorrow, but with temps of 27ºC it'll be a fun run! I'll make sure I take it slow, and have plenty of water & lucozade sport with me.

Then on Sunday I'm planning on taking part in the Great Gym Challenge

Day 26 - Thursday 8th July: Milton 5

2010-07-08T22:30:00.001+01:00

Run: 5.00 miles
Time: 46 minutes 28 seconds

A more gentle go at this regular route today. Tuesday's was "brisk", today was "steady".
Again I failed to hydrate during the morning, only managing half a pint of water today. One day I'll get organised and make sure I have a good amount to drink before a hot lunchtime run! Still, because I wasn't pushing it, it was quite a good run today.

I overtook another runner out today. I spotted him not long after I'd turned south from the Drayton road back towards Milton village. He was running on the left of the road, whereas I was correctly running on the right, heading into the oncoming traffic. I could tell I was going to overtake him, and as I drew near I realised we were making a rolling chicane as oncoming cars began to pull over to avoid me, thus getting closer to him. Why was he running on the wrong side of the road? Who does he think he is, Eddy Izzard? Luckily I left him behind as I got to Milton and then it was soon back into the Park and back to work.

Day 25 - Wednesday 7th July: Gym classes

2010-07-07T21:46:00.002+01:00

Stability Ball: 30 minutes

LBT: 30 minutes

50/50: 45 minutes

Just the three classes today, and on the whole they weren't too bad. I think the instructor was being a bit easier on us this week!

Day 24 - Tuesday 6th July: Milton 5

2010-07-06T22:01:00.002+01:00

Run: 4.95 miles
Time: 41 minutes 35 seconds

Phew - a fast one today, though surprisingly it didn't feel fast. It felt good, but I wish I'd hydrated better earlier in the day, as I was thirsty after only a mile or so. I kind of wanted to beat last week's 43 minutes, but was resigned to not putting in a great performance because I'd only had one cup of tea and a pint of water during the morning. However, I made the first mile in under nine minutes, and just got faster on miles 2 & 3. I kept thinking about how fast I ran the Birmingham Half marathon (about an 8min 20sec pace), so subconsciously I think my legs got the hint, as that's the kind of pace I managed through miles 2-5.

Afterwards I was both amazed and strangely disappointed to have set a PB for this route - knocking 1½ minutes off last week's time. Why did I feel let down instead of elated? I can't put my finger on it - but perhaps it was because next time I want to beat this time, it's going to be harder - because I've raised the bar higher than I was expecting. Beating a time in small increments is achievable, whereas beating a time when I've already knocked a sizeable chunk off (3.5%) makes me think I'll have to work harder next time, just to match the same PB (let alone beat it).

Then again, I may just surprise myself and manage the elusive 40 minutes!

Day 23 - Monday 5th July: Swim

2010-07-05T21:48:00.003+01:00

Swim: 750 metres

Time: 30 minutes

At last - I managed 30 lengths again, wasn't sure I'd make it in time. But I kept going and just made it (before the aquasize class was due to begin). I finished on a quick one again too.

Day 22 - Sunday 4th July: Rest

2010-07-04T23:58:00.002+01:00

I did go to the gym today to attend Combat Circuits again, but yet another class mysteriously cancelled with no notice. This time there were four of us who were let down by the lack of instructor. So I took it as a sign that I should have a rest day today instead!

Day 21 - Saturday 3rd July: Charney - Denchworth 10

2010-07-04T23:56:00.001+01:00

Run: 9.81 miles
Time: 1 hour 31 minutes 38 seconds

This was supposed to be about 9 miles, but turned out to be nearer 10. But that was ok - as the plan was for a 90 minute jog, so it turned out to be about spot on.

Day 20 - Friday 2nd July: Cycle to work & back

2010-07-04T23:55:00.003+01:00

Cycle: 11.84 miles
Time: 47 minutes 7 seconds

With the wind behind me, I knocked another 5 minutes off the time to get to work.

Cycle: 11.89 miles
Time: 1 hour 2 minutes 46 seconds

It was harder on the return leg, however, cycling into the wind. I had to stop for a breather and a drink a couple of miles from home.

Day 19 - Thursday 1st July: Stanford 5 (3 outer)

2010-07-04T23:53:00.001+01:00

Run: 5.11 miles
Time: 49 minutes 47 seconds

Again, another change to the usual routine of running 5 mile laps of the village, I ran 3 longer 1½ mile laps instead. Next week is a rest week for this day, but after that I'll be back to the "speed interval" run.

Day 18 - Wednesday 30th June: Gym classes

2010-07-04T23:51:00.001+01:00

Stability Ball: 30 minutes

LBT: 30 minutes

50/50: 45 minutes

Yogalates: 1 hour

Luckily the regular instructor was back from her hols, so things were back to normal. Although she was determined to push me to my limit this week, and took great pleasure in seeing the pain on my face during 50/50!

Day 16 - Monday 28th June: Swim

2010-07-04T23:50:00.003+01:00

Swim: 650 metres

Time: 25 minutes

Just the 26 lengths this week, though I did sprint the last one.

Day 17 - Tuesday 29th June: Milton 5

2010-07-04T23:50:00.002+01:00

Run: 5.05 miles
Time: 43 minutes 9 seconds

A new PB for this route. I may yet beat 40 minutes on this lap... one day!

Day 15 - Sunday 27th June: Charney & back

2010-07-04T23:49:00.001+01:00

Run: 7.77 miles
Time: 1 hour 18 minutes 48 seconds

Another alternative to my usual long run - an out & back route this time to Charney Bassett.