The right balance in week 67

Things are going very much to plan so far in week 67. This week's target is 10 miles a day for 7 days.  It's an amount of miles I'm well capable of achieving and is very much the first stepping stone to the ultimate target of 32 miles a day for 7 days in August.

My training week started with the 10.5 mile Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge on Sunday. On Monday I ran  up a few climbs in Jesmond Dene and followed that up with a session on the treadmill. Yesterday's run was 10.3 miles from Gosforth to Rowlands Gill. Katy was there to pick me up at the end (as she's done quite a lot lately).

The first run today was 5.2 miles from Heaton to David Fairlamb's gym in Tynemouth. I then had my usual 90 minute personal training session with Mark Fleming before running the 5.2 miles back to my car in Heaton. No problems there at all.

I've got to say that I'm pleased and quite surprised at how quick my fitness has come back after 4 weeks off with that chest infection.Confidence continues to return more and more each day too. 

I've got 3 more days of 10 mile runs this week and I'm on target to get about 72 miles done this week as well as David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp. Everything has been setup this week to achieve the mileage. i.e. working slightly fewer hours, doing less school runs and Katy has been on hand to pick me up when required. All the lessons learned last year have been put into practice this week and so far it's paying off.

Next week I've only got 50 miles to run to it's my turn to do more school runs and I'll be making up those lost hours at work. At long last I seem to have found a good work/life/training balance. Maintaining this balance will be absolutely vital in the coming months.

Whereeeeerrrreeereee has the t-shirt been this week?

The Run Geordie Run T-shirts are continuing to sell really well in aid of St Benedict's Hospice (Charity No. 1019410) and The Children's Foundation (Charity No. 1000013). Not only are they selling well but they are continuing to reach the four corners of the planet!

Over £2300 has been raised so far as a result of t-shirt sales and this has helped the overall charity fund reach the current total of £5,927.

Each Run Geordie Run T-Shirt, modelled here by Marie Hudson on tour down under, is priced at £10 each. The amazing thing is that the full £10 goes to the charities. Yes, that's right! Amazing, I know! 

You pay £10 per t-shirt and all of it goes to the 2 charities. This is the way we like to do our fundraising at Run Geordie Run! 

Production for each t-shirt was kindly paid for by nufc.com reader Peter McCowie and made, at cost price, by my friends at www.customplanet.co.uk. They are screen printed, front and back, for durable and long term use. Current sizes available are S, M, L,XL and XXL.

If you would like a t-shirt then please click here to be taken to the order form.

Finally, thanks to Marie for taking time out to send this photo while on holiday in Australia.

7 tough months ahead

I'm 4 weeks into my revised training schedule and things have gone very well so far. The chest infection of December 2009 is a dim and distant memory and I'm working very hard to get to a level that will bring success in the USA next year.

The new training schedule took a few weeks to compile and was drawn up with all of the lessons I learned last year in mind. There is a heavy focus on running high mileage on consecutive days. The ultimate aim in this phase of training is to recreate one of the weeks in the USA. I'm scheduled to achieve that by mid August. That's 7 days of 32 miles a day to be exact. 

Being able to run that kind of consecutive daily mileage doesn't happen overnight and the build up to that really starts this week. Today, I ran the Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge to give me 10.5 miles. I'll be running 10 miles a day for the next 6 days to give 7 consecutive days of at least 10 miles a day. Training for the the 3 weeks following that is varied and will see me in the gym as well as getting some hills in and some speed work too.

In 4 weeks time I will be doing another 7 consecutive days of running. This time the daily mileage will be 13 miles. That will be followed by 3 varied weeks and on the 4th week it will be another 7 consecutive days of running. And so on and so forth. The key to this schedule is the big consecutive mileage every 4th week. I'm calling them my "red weeks" as that's what colour they are highlighted in on my spreadsheet.

In theory, I should be doing less hours at work on a red week. I will also be doing very few school runs on a red week. The other varied weeks, which are green and yellow incidentally, are also designed for consecutive mileage but over fewer days. These weeks are still tough but I should have more time for family, work etc.

There are over 2000 miles to be ran between now and mid August! This is how those Red weeks pan out:

07/02/10 - 7 days of 10 miles a day.

07/03/10 - 7 days of 13 miles a day.

04/04/10 - 7 days of 16 miles a day.

02/05/10 - 7 days of 19 miles a day.

30/05/10 - 7 days of 22 miles a day.

27/06/10 - 7 days of 25 miles a day.

25/07/10 - 7 days of 28 miles a day.

22/08/10 - 7 days of 32 miles a day.

I'm currently on the 2nd day of a red week and feeling very good. My confidence has increased considerably over the last 4 weeks and it's a great start to 2010.

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 66

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.

Sunday 31st January - 10.5 mile run, The Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. (01:49:03).
Monday 1st February - 5 mile run, Race Course. (00:49:33).
Monday 1st February - 5 mile run, Treadmill. (00:56:04).
Wednesday 3rd February - Personal Training Session. (01:30:00).
Wednesday 3rd February - 8.5 mile run, Dave Fairlamb's Gym to Gosforth(01:27:57).

Thursday 4th February - 6 mile run, Town Moor. (00:58:27).

Friday 5th February - 3 mile run, Treadmill. (00:29:18).

Saturday 6th February - David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp. (00:45:00).
Saturday 6th February - 10.5 mile run, Tynemouth to The Baltic. (01:46:31).

Thanks Northern Runner

I've had a few bits of good news this week. The first was when local running shop, Northern Runner got in touch saying that they'd like to sponsor www.rungeordierun.com for another year. Of course, it goes without saying that all sponsor money is split between St Benedict's Hospice and The Children's Foundation.

My association with Northern Runner goes back quite a few years now. I've bought shoes and clothing from there for many of my major runs. It was actually John Lavender, one of the staff, who put me on to Brooks shoes back in 2007 a few months before I ran 874 miles from John O'Groats to Lands End. The rest, as they say, is history and those shoes saw me safely to Lands End while the run raised £34,108 for St Benedict's Hospice.

So I'd like to give a sincere thanks to Northern Runner for their continued support of this website and more importantly of the 2 charities I'm raising funds for. From my own experiences over the years, I would recommend them to anyone who is looking for new shoes or clothing. The shop is located on Low Friar Street in Newcastle just down from The Gate complex. Don't forget to tell them I sent you!

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 65

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.


Sunday 24th January - 10.5 mile run, The Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. (01:43:49).
Wednesday 27th January - Personal Training Session. (01:30:00).
Saturday 30th January - 7 mile run, Rowlands Gill to Shotley Bridge. (01:04:26).

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 64

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.


Sunday 17th January - 10.5 mile run, The Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. (01:46:07).
Monday 18th January - 7 mile run, Race Course Woods. (01:14:18).
Monday 18th January - 5 mile run, Treadmill. (00:49:47).
Wednesday 20th January - 6 mile run, Treadmill. (00:55:00).
Wednesday 20th January - Personal Training Session. (01:30:00).
Friday 22nd January - 6 mile run, Treadmill. (00:58:42).
Friday 22 January - 3.5 mile run, Treadmill. (00:36:53).
Saturday 23rd January - David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp. (00:56:24).
Saturday 23rd January - 8 mile run, Grand Hotel to St Mary's Lighthouse and back. (01:26:56).

My debut at the Complete Football gym

Monday lunchtime saw me run 7 miles through the cold, icy and muddy conditions of the woodland near Newcastle Race Course. How I didn't slip over, I'll never know. In the end, I was pleased to record yet another comeback run in 1 piece.

After work, I took the opportunity to use the gym up at Complete Football (located right next to the Grandstand at Newcastle Race Course). Regular readers will know that I was granted complimentary membership by them in December. By the time I got there the gym was quite busy but not too busy that I had to wait for a treadmill. In fact, it's a well stocked gym on large premises with numerous treadmills so I can't imagine ever having to wait.

I'd never seen these kinds of treadmills before. Very modern indeed! The one I used had a touch screen with an integrated TV and fans is you wanted them. Very nice! Now the most important part! The "ride" didn't disappoint either and the cushion and comfort were just right. I found this to be quite a relief as I'll be spending quite a bit of time here over the coming months. There are some treadmills that I just don't enjoy running on. Thankfully, this wasn't one of them!

Now, that I've seen and used the facilities first hand, it's time for an unashamed plug. Membership of the gym at Complete Football starts from as little as £18 per month. If you're looking for a gym in the Gosforth area with state of the art facilities then I don't see why you would need to look any further than the gym at Complete Football. See www.completefootball.net for further details.

One final plug, which I think most parents will be glad to hear about is the football birthday parties that Complete Football do. My son Jack (pictured above), had a belated birthday party there on Saturday. He was joined by 11 of his school pals for an hour that comprised a warm up, skills coaching, a six a side game and finally a penalty shoot out.

It was bitterly cold but the bairns didn't mind one bit and they all got stuck in to the football. I was very impressed with the coach who took the party. He made sure that the sides were fair and every one got their share of shots in the penalty shootout. If I can compare it to a fitness class, I could say that it was a very "tight" session and little time was wasted to allow the bairns to get a full hour of football in.

As soon as the football was over it was inside for hot dogs, drinks, snacks, well stocked party bags and to sing "Happy Birthday". This was all secondary, when the bairns saw that highlights of all of their goals were playing on the screens above the party table (pictured above). "That one was like Rooney's last week" one bairn said.

This rounded the party off nicely for the bairns and Jack was ever so pleased to receive a very nice trophy with "I had my party at Complete Football" engraved on it. That was one 7 year old's day well and truly made I can tell you!

The price of the party was £125. We had 12 bairns there but it's the same price for up to 16. When you take into account the quality of coaching, food, party bags, cake and trophy it represents brilliant value indeed. There were 3 other parties that afternoon which is as good a recommendation as any. For further information see www.completefootball.net.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting re-accquanted with the treadmill at Complete Football tomorrow after work for 7 miles. Prior to that, I've got a 6 mile run to do round the Town Moor. That will give me 41.5 miles for week 64 of USA 2011 training. To get me to the target of 50 miles, I've got a nice 8.5 mile Saturday morning run planned from Tynemouth to St Mary's Lighthouse and back. This will be done as soon as I've finished David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp on Tynemouth Beach (opposite the Grand Hotel) at 9 am. Busy times again! Brilliant!

New "Pie Runner" prepares for Paras!

I'm pleased to report that I'm feeling stronger during every run ever since making my comeback to running last week. It seems that the four week break hasn't set me back too far and I'm starting to enjoy getting the miles in again following that nasty chest infection.

Sunday saw a return to the 10.5 mile Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. I was accompanied by regular runners Kevin Lister (far left) and Tom Higham (far right).

I was also joined this week by 17 year old, first time "Pie Runner" Lewis Edes (2nd right) who is preparing to join the Parachute Regiment. It was great to have him join us for 10.5 miles along the Tyne. I actually felt quite flattered and, dare I say it, quite proud, that he'd chosen to run with us as part of his preparations to join such an esteemed elite Regiment of  the British Army.

Not as proud as his parents must be mind you! You could tell straight away by his attitude that he's a great kid. As with all of the other runners, I look forward to him joining us in the coming weeks and months on a Sunday morning.

Please remember that this casual Sunday morning run is open to anyone who would like to join me. It's a 10.5 mile run taking in the bridges of the Tyne from the Millennium to the Scotswood before returning back to Newcastle Quayside. We set off from the Newcastle side of the Millennium Bridge at 9 am and the run can take anywhere between 01:37:00 to 01:45:00 to complete. As you can tell it's not done at a serious pace but it's a good chance to get some time on your feet and have a bit of banter with fellow runners on the way round. It's also a good chance to see 6 of the Tyne Bridges up close in one fell swoop.

Thanks again go to Peter's Pies for sponsoring the run.

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 63

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.


Monday 11th January - 6 mile run, Town Moor. (00:59:06).
Thursday 14th January - Personal Training Session. (01:30:00).
Friday 15th January - 6.2 mile run, Jesmond Dene. (01:02:31).