Well an even better week for training! Started off with the usual 6.2km runs, a victory for the mighty Bramhall Rangers, then half way through the week, some mates from work mentioned the Salford 10km on the bank holiday Friday. I was a bit resistant to this at first as it's a reasonable jump from 6.2km to 10km, but after a quick think about it I thought why not! Then to top it off, there was a leisurely 12 mile bike ride on the Saturday to Macclesfield and back. For a more detailed view, see below...
6.2km
20/03 - 27:35
23/03 - 27:45
10km
25/03 - 48:14
This was the highlight of the week. It is the furthest distance I have ever run in my life! With it being a professional event, there was a lot of running clubs there. Members from Sale and Altrincham Harriers were liberally scattered amongst the entrants. From work, there was Tim, his Dad, Paul and myself all flying the BT banner :) Unluckily for me, Tim's Dad was up to half marathon standard, Tim had been training in work lunch breaks for months, and Paul had done 10km runs before and said he felt much fitter this time.... something told me I'd be coming last out of our group!
The start was very exciting and I set out with the aim of taking it reasonably easy and just trying to complete the course as it would be the first time I'd run a distance of this length. Just under an hour is what I was after. The more professional runners there had proper skin tight bottoms on, GPS and heart monitoring gizmos, and funny shaped water bottles. I had my Bermuda shorts and slightly hole-y Addidas top that was about 8 years old! There were distance markers set up, and I'm sure that whilst the professionals find these invaluable, I found them rather depressing! 1km feels like an age at the beginning and the end of the race!
Anyway, I finished 359th out of 505 wearing the glorious race number 678. If you want a further look, try this web link... http://www.ukresults.net/2005/salf10k.html Needless to say, everyone had a great time.
Anyway, the total cumulative distance run in training now is up to 80.8km. That's equivalent to running from Stockport to Leeds!
Andy
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Training for week commencing 13/03/2005
Well this week was a good week for training! I got three runs, and a 5-a-side footy match in, including a personal best at the 6.2km run! However, it was not without its low points! Anyway, here's this weeks results...
6.2km
13/03 - 28:52
16/03 - 29:49
19/03 - 27:54 - New personal best!
You may notice that the training run on 16/03 has a poor time in comparison to the other two runs and there's a reason for this. Knowing that running after you've just eaten is bad and likely to give you a stitch, I usually run before I eat. Sadly, on the 16/03 I got back from work later than planned and was hungry, so I cooked something up and was finished eating by 18:45. I left it till 21:30 to do my run, thinking this would be a big enough gap.... unfortunately it wasn't! Two thirds of the way through the run I developed a really agonising stitch that I think would give child birth a run for its money! I was really lucky that after 5 mins it disappeared as I doubt I could have continued much longer. This taught me my second lesson... Lesson 2: Leave at least a three hour gap between eating a full meal and running, and more if you can! This sadly means that I will not be able to have a full English breakfast on the morning of the Great North Run, which is most disappointing as I was starting to look forward to it...
The total distance I have now run in training is up to 58.4km.
Andy
6.2km
13/03 - 28:52
16/03 - 29:49
19/03 - 27:54 - New personal best!
You may notice that the training run on 16/03 has a poor time in comparison to the other two runs and there's a reason for this. Knowing that running after you've just eaten is bad and likely to give you a stitch, I usually run before I eat. Sadly, on the 16/03 I got back from work later than planned and was hungry, so I cooked something up and was finished eating by 18:45. I left it till 21:30 to do my run, thinking this would be a big enough gap.... unfortunately it wasn't! Two thirds of the way through the run I developed a really agonising stitch that I think would give child birth a run for its money! I was really lucky that after 5 mins it disappeared as I doubt I could have continued much longer. This taught me my second lesson... Lesson 2: Leave at least a three hour gap between eating a full meal and running, and more if you can! This sadly means that I will not be able to have a full English breakfast on the morning of the Great North Run, which is most disappointing as I was starting to look forward to it...
The total distance I have now run in training is up to 58.4km.
Andy
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Training up to Week Commencing 13/03/2005
I've done quite a bit of training to date, so this blog is a catch up to the start of this blog pretty much. After this I'll do an update every week or so. After following the advice for the Great North Run training regime, I built up my training runs from a small distance. So far I've got two training runs, a 3km run and a 6.2km run. When time is tight, and I want a good workout, I use some ankle weights to help (though the fitness world is divided about the benefits of these), so times with a "w" after this signify when I've used them. The results from training have been the following...
3km
22/01 - 16:02 w
25/01 - 13:38
29/01 - 14:40 w
30/01 - 12:30
01/02 - 14:23 w
6.2km
05/02 - 29:16
06/02 - 28:08
In between these two training runs, it was my birthday! So I had some well deserved time off, and stupidly did a weekend of hard drinking which kicked off with a pint, a shot, and a large wine in five minutes. Here's a picture of my mates and my empty glasses after finishing...
The effect this had on my running time was quite noticeable, and I learnt my first lesson... Lesson 1: Drinking to excess severely increases your running time! In my case it increased my running time by 16%!!!!!
16/02 - 32:44
20/02 - 28:08
So far then I've run a total of 39.8km in training which is further than running from Stockport to Rochdale! Amazing how quickly these training runs add up!
Andy
3km
22/01 - 16:02 w
25/01 - 13:38
29/01 - 14:40 w
30/01 - 12:30
01/02 - 14:23 w
6.2km
05/02 - 29:16
06/02 - 28:08
In between these two training runs, it was my birthday! So I had some well deserved time off, and stupidly did a weekend of hard drinking which kicked off with a pint, a shot, and a large wine in five minutes. Here's a picture of my mates and my empty glasses after finishing...
The effect this had on my running time was quite noticeable, and I learnt my first lesson... Lesson 1: Drinking to excess severely increases your running time! In my case it increased my running time by 16%!!!!!
16/02 - 32:44
20/02 - 28:08
So far then I've run a total of 39.8km in training which is further than running from Stockport to Rochdale! Amazing how quickly these training runs add up!
Andy
Background Info and Welcome note
Hello and welcome to my blog for my "Summer of Runs". No, this isn't a diary of food poisoning over the summer; it is in fact a record of my training experience for some long distance running I intend to do this summer. This year, as part of my New Years resolutions, I decided to change my rather relaxed attitude to exercise and enter the Great Manchester run which is 10km, and the Great North Run which is half a marathon!!!!!!! My last experience of long distance running was when I was about 15 and did the Bramhall Fun Run which is around 5 miles long; so as you can see, I really am starting from scratch!
Half a marathon is a serious distance in my books (roughly 22km). Thankfully though I've got till Septmeber 18th to get to this standard. In the meantime though I've got the Great Manchester Run on May 22nd. This works out well as it means I have to start my training now!!! I've decided to run these races for charity and will be running for the British Red Cross which provides many great services both in the UK and abroad.
To help me keep the focus on the training, I decided to publish it to the world courtesy of the internet. Hopefully it'll provide people with a little bit of a laugh, or failing that an incentive for me to keep the training up. I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
Andy
Half a marathon is a serious distance in my books (roughly 22km). Thankfully though I've got till Septmeber 18th to get to this standard. In the meantime though I've got the Great Manchester Run on May 22nd. This works out well as it means I have to start my training now!!! I've decided to run these races for charity and will be running for the British Red Cross which provides many great services both in the UK and abroad.
To help me keep the focus on the training, I decided to publish it to the world courtesy of the internet. Hopefully it'll provide people with a little bit of a laugh, or failing that an incentive for me to keep the training up. I hope you enjoy reading this blog.
Andy
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