Post France update

So the running has been going pretty well. Ive had a few small niggles with my left foot but have it under control for now. I managed around 320kms in July and hope to keep the distances going up and up for a while now. I spent 2 weeks in France running some good hilly road runs in pretty hot weather so Im pleased with that, Next week Ill be down in Cornwall and hope to hit some big miles in big sand dunes! should have done my gaitors already!! doh.

Will get some photos posted from Cornwall.

ciao for now

Longer and faster....July 7th

Back after a good Sunday in London watching Wimbledon. Managed to get teh 70k in last week including a very hilly Saturday morning run. Sunday I did nothing but walk around London and Wimbledon and eat nice food and drink pimms....I deal I know....
This morning I ran 15km with my wife MTBing beside me and my dog, Monty the very stupid but very nice Viszla, running along too. My wife announces that I run funny! awesome. The good news is that tomorrow night Im meeting Macca (2 time Ironman World Champ) and spending two days at a training camp with him where we will have a run clinic! could be useful! I think Im running flat footed and it would be great to iron that kind of problem out asap.
Anyhoot, feeling good and my 15km run today was my fastest in probably nearly a year so I feel really pleased. Tomorrow I plan another 15k but slower and just putting in the Kms.

Going to plan....the enormity of what im trying to do has hit me! - July 3rd 2014

So last week I hit my 60km target and I actually didnt feel too bad. I also hit the gym and did some strength work at home. The running is going too bad, Im finding stuff hard that I didnt when I was fitter but its coming along.
Im away with work this week so have been putting in some Kms in Denmark. I started off on Monday with a 20km run on my own in the heat of the afternoon, it was tough going but I did it. Tuesday I did a 5km run in the morning with my back pack, I guess it must way 4 kgs or so and man did that feel different! I then did an hour of very tough spinning class a friend of mine runs over here. Wed I did a 15km run with another friend and it went well, I was tired by the end and it wasnt easy but again...I did it and thats what matters right now. In the evening I did 100 press up (random) and some core work (plank, pike hold etc).
This morning I again did the 5km run to work with the pack and then another tough 1 hour spin session. I just finished another upper body session and some body weight leg work (calf raises, squats).
Tomorrow I plan to put in another 15km run at a gentle pace which will take me nicely up to 60km running and then Saturday Ill do a hilly 10km so will have done 70 very good kms.
The next week Im going to bring down the distance back to around 55 - 60 km but there will be hills added.
Oh Im also going to watch some tennis at Wimbledon  and then next week Im also meeting up at a UK training with Ironman world champion (ex) Macca and the people from team Maccax which Im a member of...maybe ill get some tips :)

First long run in nearly 2 months

Ok so the phrase long run can mean many things but to me anything over 15km is classified as a long training run.
My plan this week has been to cover 60km and it started Tuesday morning with a 10km run with a military friend of mine who basically runs at a billion miles an hour and can still chat! so my legs were a little sore and tired when I woke up today...BUT I had already made the plan to run with my younger brother this morning and he was here at 5:45 raring to go (slight enthusiasm anyway) so off we went and we covered 20km in just about 1 hour 45 minutes. Not my fastest every by a long way but it felt great to be running longer distances again.My trysty hound Monty following us the whole way and still looking pretty bouncy by the end (git!). My legs felt it but nothing went wrong so im pleased. Couple of recovery shakes, few hours work then Im off to the gym for some circuit training...doh.

So thats 30km so far and I have 4 days to go so I think the 60km goal will easily be reached this week. Tomorrow I think ill do a really easy 10km just to give my legs a chance to recover more.

Over and out for now... have a nice day!

So far so good

Week 1 down and I managed a good 50k of running, almost all of that was off road too and in some decent warm weather. Woop woop. My legs are holding up well so far and my new shoes are doing good. This week I need to take it up a small notch and Im going to do that by trying to add 15k runs into my routine rather than just 10ks. I want to remain very careful about adding distance and speed so Im going to just take it up small notches at a time. I have also been doing my Tabata circuit training to keep the upper body and core training too as I think this will help to carry me and my kit across the sand.

I hope in a couple more weeks ill be able to join some other local Bath people who are taking part in the same race as me. It'll be great to share the training with some like minded people.

I think Im already boring my family about it :)

Over and out for now.

eat sleep run repeat

My excitement  at getting a place on the Marathon Des Sables 2015 has now simmered down to a low bubble of nervousness. I have had a mixed year of injuries and since completing Celtman 2013 I haven't really been able to hold down any decent, consistent training. Ive had lower back pain, foot problems and most recently a very odd bleed in my right calf caused by surfing. So 4 weeks of no running or cycling has been my start to training for the hardest race of my life so far...great.

I have no completed my first 2 10k training runs and have decided my body is ready to start the long and hopefully more scientific than usual training needed to carry me over the 150 odd miles of sunshine and sand (making it sound nice).

My plan is to follow a 4 week training cycle:

This week (60k):
Mon - 10k
Tue - 10k & circuit training
Wed - 10k
Thur - 10k & circuit training
Fri - 10k
Sat - 10k
Sun - nothing

Next week (70k):
Mon - 15k & circuit training
Tue - 10k
Wed - 10k & circuit training
Thu - 15k
Fri - 10k
Sat - 10k
Sun - nothing

3rd week (75k)
Mon - 15k
Tue - 10k & spinning session
Wed - 15k
Thu - 10k & spinning session
Fri - 10k
Sat - 15k
Sun - nothing

4th week (46k)
Mon - 10k
Tue - 8k
Wed - 10k & circuit training
Thu - 8k
Friday - rest
Sat - 10k
Sun - rest

5th week(65k)
Mon - 15k
Tue - 10k & circuit training
Wed - 10k
Thur - 10k & circuit training
Fri - rest
Sat - 20k
Sun - nothing


My plan is to run the first 4 weeks very gently and just make sure I dont pick up any injuries. If my legs are too sore ill just drop that days session. Form and recovery is my main goal. Once I build up to 80+ km a week ill let that settle and then add my pack into the equation and slowly load it up.
My plan is flexible as it cant take into account family needs and holidays so ill just adjust as I go. Ive been doing this for long enough to know if my training is on target. My pace goals after a couple of months will be to run between 4:30 and 4:45 min kms. That gives me room to slow down.

Im going to blog my journey as a record for myself this year and to keep me motivated. Ill add pics as I go and see how my weight adjusts to the training (Im starting at 85kg). As I go along ill also do some cycling but Im not yet sure how ill slot that it. The whole thing is a work in progress but my aim is to be very run fit by Christmas and then just hold that until the race. I want to build a very solid base fitness and just not worry about speed.

Over and out for now.