Recovery day

This is think what we will call today! No gym stuff with me and a shed load of work. I will try and drink plenty of water and fluids and eat sensibly. First stop Starbucks ... The day only officially begins at 9am.
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"We haven't seen you in a long time"

That is the cheek of the nice looking polish girl; she said this to me as I entered the gym at 6.45am this morning. It is true I haven't been to her gym in a while but I have been to other Fitness Firsts.

 

Session:	4
Training Date:	29-Jul-09
Approx Time of training:	7:15 AM
Days to GNR:	53
Distance Covered (km):	n/a
Exercise Time (hh:mm:ss):	00:45:00
Exercise Time (hours):	0.75
Av Speed (km / h):	n/a
Incline (%):	n/a
Location:	Tower Hill FF
Class:	RPM Class
Instructor:	Superman

 

 

A good session (considering the 5.5 hours sleep) which reminded me how much I like this guys class. However he did single me out in the class and tell me to turn my resistance down as it looked like I was struggling. I blame this as I was sat on the front row. I will try and get back to this class.

 

To treat myself I got a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks (with Soy milk mind you) … naughty!

Houston, we have a problem.

Shikha, my friend who is just like a sister (one of my earliest memories is the day she was born), just sent me a eBook called The Running Diet. I quote:

“Before considering training for a half-marathon, I’d recommend that you have completed a 10K race or at least be comfortable doing over an hour continuous training. You’ll need that level of running as a baseline before starting a half marathon training schedule; which will ramp up to about 25 miles (40km) per week. For most novice runners, 25 miles per week is 4 hours of running time per week.”

I don’t think 31 minutes this morning is really cutting the mustard; especially considering there is only 54 days to go!

I am sure the treadmills in this gym are calibrated wrong.

So as you may have gathered earlier, I missed my Spin class which I was a little gutted about. Anyway the plan was to do 9km on the treadmill instead (about 2km more than my recent PBs). I was varying my speed between 9kph and 11kph giving myself short-targets.

The problem is as soon as I hit 5km, I am not sure what came over me but the bad side of my brain went to hit the big red button and I ended up with the following stats:


Session: 3
Training Date: 28-Jul-09
Approx Time of training: 6:45 AM
Days to GNR 54
Distance Covered (km): 5
Exercise Time (hh:mm:ss): 00:31:00
Exercise Time (hours): 0.52
Av Speed (km / h): 9.68
Incline (%): 1.0%
Location: Clapham Junction Station FF


This was massively disappointing. The 11kph seems much faster on the treadmills vs any other gym, and I had just completed a 5 minute session at this speed when I hit the button. I should have stayed in the more comfortable 9-10 kph bracket and then I should have (& could have) gone further. When I was at this speed, I didn't have a problem and my mental attitude was right … I think.

Back of big queue

Unlikely now. May have to do treadmill instead
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Its gonna be touch and go

... whether i make it to the class. This gym usually has a queue outside when it opens at 6.30 and most people will sign up for the class.
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Is anyone else awake.

Just gone 6am and i am on the way to the gym for a 6.45 spinning class. Lets see if i make it.
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I think I am going to cry.

Becs, my Great North Run partner, has just told me that she did 17km on the weekend. That is a whole 10km (or 10,000 metres - yes ten thousand!) more than me. I am now starting to get seriously worried about this run. The days are counting down, my weekends and weeks are getting busier and my back is getting worse.

The worthing and beach stats

Session: 2
Training Date: 26-Jul-09
Approx Time of training: 8:30 AM
Days to GNR 56
Distance Covered (km): 6.95
Exercise Time (hh:mm:ss): 00:42:30
Exercise Time (hours): 0.71
Av Speed (km / h): 9.81
Location: Worthing o/side
Link: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/running/route_211756.html

Worthing and the beach

Despite Ians best to attempt to get me to drink his quality ales i did manage to get out and run for about 7km this morning. Will post a map later. First 5 mins were awful but after that found my stride and was okay. Now at 8pm though my back is giving me some serious agro again. Might try some pain killers.
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What a geek!

Anyone who knows me, knows I love a spreadsheet.

So I have created a new one with training details of what I have done, average speeds, etc. Yesterdays session breaks down as follows:

Session: 1
Training Date: 23-Jul-09
Approx Time of training: 6:30 PM
Days to GNR: 59
Distance Covered (km): 6.67
Exercise Time (hh:mm:ss): 00:38:30
Exercise Time (hours): 0.64
Av Speed (km / h): 10.39
Location: Clapham FF

I ought to do something tonight also, as have quite a hectic weekend (again!). Still back is a bit sore this morning so let's see how things pan out.

The good news and the not so good news

Lets start with the bad news. A couple of weeks ago i was doing what i term the 3 minute plan. This involved increasing my time on the treadmill by 3 mins everytime i go to the gym. I thought i could pick up from where i left off. Today the plan was to do 36 mins at speed 11 incline 1. However 20 mins i hit the wall. Was going to give up.
Now the good news. I actually slowed down to speed 9 and did 14 mins at this speed before increasing back to 11. In my mind i wanted to at least cover the same distance as originally planned (6.67 km). I may change what is essentially a time and speed plan to a distance plan. I just want to complete the Gnr not too worried about speed.
The other slightly good news, or maybe stupid news, was that i was suffering from back pain all today but i think i ran it off. I blame my chair at work!
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I think I need a more formal training schedule ...

About eight weeks to go, and I need some kind of training schedule. I scoured Google and came across this one:

 

http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/clubs/triathlon/training/Half_Marathon.htm

 

The person who is doing this is doing an MBA too so must be good J

 

When he says XT I think I am going to do a spin-class. I will plan to do what he says on a weekly basis but not necessarily do it in this order.

 

I have my gym / running stuff with me today, so am definitely (well almost definitely) going to try and go this evening (as I didn't make it this morning)!

My scales are lying.

Just got on my scales and they say i weigh 75kg. When i was in my physical running best about a year ago i was 8 to 10 kg less than this. I really need to give up eating and drinking crap ... and more importantly do some bloody exercise.

Not exactly the fresh start i am hoping for

Gone to the theatre with my cousin and brother. Interval now. Eatern chinese and had two beers. Must try spinning or running pre work 2mrw.

Excuses already?

I need some serious motivation!!! We are now 61 days from this run and I can’t make it round the park once. Hence the reason for writing this blog. Hopefully if people (I know it is just me reading … but I can imagine can't I?) know what I am doing it terms of training then I will be more motivated to do some training.

I really should go to the gym today but I am still not feeling 100% after Mark and Katie’s wedding on Saturday and Lords on Sunday (come on England let’s win the Ashes)! I should really go to the gym tonight but my cousin from India is over and I should rendez-vous with him. Is this an excuse??? Kind of but a kosher one I feel.