Almost there in week 39

Garmin Connect now has all of this week's runs uploaded to it and I can see at a glance that 57.6 miles have been done with almost 10,000ft of climbs. I've burned 8000 calories during those 57.6 miles and the average mileage per session is 7.2. In other words, I'm on target to get 90 miles done this week. It's not going to be easy, however, as it means I'll be running 16.2 miles today and the same distance tomorrow. Ooya!

Week 39 continues on the right lines

Today's plan was to run 13 miles over 2 sessions. As per usual, my plans changed but it was for the better as it happens and I was able to get 14.4 miles done over 2 sessions. I was able to get a sub 45 minute 5 miles done at lunchtime. I'll soon get this distance back to around the 40 minute mark. The 9.4 mile run after work finished at the chippy in Rowlands Gill. I'm not at liberty to say what happened when I got to the end of this particular run!

By my calculations that's 25.4 miles done for the week leaving 64.6 to do over the next 5 days. In other words I need to do a half marathon a day to get the target of 90 miles in. Easy!

The stats for all of my training runs are now available by clicking on the GARMIN CONNECT link on the right hand side of the page. You may need to scroll down to see it.

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 38

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 20th July - 10.2 mile run, Havannah, Wideopen Tour. (01:41:01).

Monday 20th July - 4.5 mile run, treadmill. (00:47:05).

Tuesday 21st July - 15.75 mile run, Gosforth to Shotley Bridge. (03:22:06).

Wednesday 22nd July - 5 mile run, Town Moor Tour. (00:52:06).

Thursday 23rd July - 5 mile run, Race Course. (00:47:11).

Friday 24th July - 15.6 mile run, Gosforth, Wheatslade, Jesmond Tour. (02:31:59).

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 37

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 13th July - 5 mile run, Treadmill. (00:47:04).

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 36

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 6th July - Personal Training Session. (01:00:00).

Wednesday 8th July - Personal Training Session. (01:30:00).

Week 39 gets off to a flyer!

After last week's 56 mile effort it was straight into another week of running. This week's target is 90 miles and I feel I have lots to prove as the training schedule has stuttered a bit recently. Chest infections, 20 mile races up steep hills, work, etc etc have caused a bit of a disruption to the old routine but I think I'm slowly but surely getting things back on track.

I was very pleased to get the week off to a good start, tonight, with a hilly 11 mile route around Shotley Bridge, Whittonstall and Shotleyfield. The thing I like about this route is the fact that there is nearly 1800ft of climbing to be done (and about the same downhill of course). As you can see from the elevation profile above, there isn't much flat on the course and you're either going up or down. At the end, I was a good 2 minutes outside my PB but 01:47:11 will do for the first run of the week. The speed will return in time I'm sure. Click on the link below for full details of the run.

The plan for tomorrow is to do at least 7 at lunchtime and 6 after work. Once again, this has to be backed up with some good nutrition so the aim is to have a good portion of porridge for breakfast and a jacket tatey for lunch. Eating well is the hard part though! Give me 90 miles and 10 chocolate bars any day of the week.

Not a bad end to the week.

It's been a tough week, having to run with a chest infection. I've got nowhere near the intended 90 miles which means that I'll be having another shot at that target over the next 7 days starting tomorrow. I'm still quite pleased with 56 miles though. Not a bad effort at all under the circumstances.

Yesterday's run, at least, brought a bit of respectability to this week's training. Accompanied by colleague Mark Cass, the route took us from Gosforth, through Hazelrigg, Brunswick, Wideopen and Longbenton. We also added the short, winding climb to the summit of the hill in Wheatslade Country Park. It's quite a view from up there! Mark and I went our separate ways at the 12.4 mile point and he headed home along the Coast Road. I made it back to Gosforth via Jesmond Dene in 02:31:59. This was a good 40 minutes quicker for a similar distance on Tuesday. Yesterday's route can be viewed by clicking here.

I'm having a rest day today before having a go at a hilly 11 mile route tomorrow.

All run details to be made available online!

Following the recent death of my old Garmin Forerunner 305 during the Chevy Chase, I've upgraded to the new Garmin 310 XT. My friends at Northern Runner had the heart rate version of the device in stock on the day of release so I didn't have to wait long to get it.

As sad as it may seem, I rely heavily on GPS tracking for performance and motivation during running. I always find the need to have all of the important information at hand during a run. Distance, pace, last lap time, where the nearest chippy is. Oh hang on! That last stat is what I use my iPhone for!

Anyway, the new model is a massive improvement on the 305. 20 hours battery life is double what I used to get from my 305! The interface is much improved too and far more intuitive than the 305. I could never figure out how to use the interval training features on the 305. With the 310 XT, I doubt I'll ever have to refer to the instructions for the setup of interval training. It is almost as if Garmin have listened to their users and applied the feedback to the design of the new device.

I love the fact that it vibrates too when an alert is encountered; such as reaching another mile. The old 305 only had an audible beep. This was no good for me when I had my iPod on full blast. On today's run I didn't have to look at my watch as much as I knew that, after each mile, it would vibrate to tell me that another one had been done. You can set it to vibrate for other alerts too. For instance, if your heart rate is too low then it will let you know about it and give you the chance to pick up the pace a bit.

The connectivity to my iMac and beyond has improved too. I can now upload data from each run wirelessly via Bluetooth which is immediately updated in garminconnect.com. This website allows anyone to view the stats from my runs. For example, click here to view today's run to Newcastle Race Course. I'll be uploading all runs in the future. You can view them all by clicking here. Then, hey presto, you'll be able to see all of my runs! Nice! I will be using this feature during the actual USA 2011 run so everyone will be able to see exactly where I've ran and how fast/slow!!!

All in all, the 310 XT combined with garminconnect.com is a brilliant piece of kit for me. I suspect, knowing that anyone on the planet will be able to view my runs, will improve my motivation even further. There is no hiding place now!

A 15.75 mile run home brings about a re-think

Still suffering from that pesky chest infection, I managed an impromptu 15.75 mile run home tonight. I didn't leave the office until 18:30 and it was past 22:00 by the time I got home. I had planned on 2 sessions today (midday and evening) but events elsewhere meant that my plans were scuppered.

Make no mistake, this was one tough run tonight. I had to dig very deep indeed when the heavy rain came and when that steady incline up the Derwent Walk demanded a bit of extra effort from my tired legs.

Despite a very slow run home lacking in any quality whatsoever, it tells me a lot about my overall progress when I'm able to put in such along run at the end of a busy working day. I hadn't taken a lot of fuel on board today either so I was running on borderline empty by the time I got home. I couldn't have even contemplated such an effort in previous years and given my breathing difficulties I can't really complain. Oh and don't forget about yesterday's 3 tough sessions.

So that's 30.25 miles for the week done so far. I'm going to have a good think about whether or not I will be able to manage 110 miles a week. At the moment, I'm constantly struggling for time to train and there isn't quite the balance to my schedule and work/home life that I'd hoped for. I've got some difficult decisions to make over the next few days but after having over 3 hours to think about it tonight I'm almost certain to reduce my weekly target to 90 miles. I never thought I'd say that with a hint of disappointment but yet again it's testament to how far I've progressed. I can't get too downhearted. I've been building the weekly mileage slowly but surely for almost 9 months. I've made some excellent progress. There's no doubt in my mind about that. I'm crying out for a settled schedule though and 90 miles of running a week, as I proved in week 31 on the back of a 120 mile bike ride, is well within my capabilities. Running 90 miles should take about 14 hours which will leave plenty of time for other things and bring a better balance. It goes without saying that family and work life are amongst those "other things". I think that the actual planning of the USA 2011 run is in there too. I expect that will start to take up more and more of my time as May 2011 gets ever closer.

So it's 90 miles of running every other week. I'm still aiming to have the average mileage per session up to 14 miles by December 2009. In the alternate "gym weeks", I'm still going to look to work harder and take only 1 rest day. The tweaks to my schedule that I talked about at the end of June still remain.

I'll take a good look at my progress and the training schedule again at the end of this year. I've got a few very tough challenges to attempt next year so I must be in the best shape possible for everything that 2010 will throw my way.

It's a start

I managed 14.5 miles yesterday over 2 sessions. Oh and there was a 90 minute gym session to get through with personal trainer Mark Fleming afterwards.

Breathing was very much an issue during the lunchtime 10.2 mile run around Gosforth and Wideopen. It was slightly better on the treadmill later on. I won't let this chest infection put me off though as I attempt to run 95 miles this week. That distance is a very tall order under the current circumstances but I must try and get as close as I can to it. If I fall short, I'll be suspending my "gym weeks" until I manage to get the USA 2011 training schedule back on track. It's all about running now. As in the past, I feel it'll be the quickest way of getting rid of this chest infection.