We are already 2 full months into 2013, doesn't time fly when you are having fun!
At the turn of the year, one of the challenges that I set myself was to attempt to do 365 training sessions in the 365 days of 2013. Given that I only managed around 180 different training sessions last year, this is a significant step up. I am only counting running and cycling at the moment and I do allow more than one session a day, but they have to be distinct, separate sessions.
The intention of this plan was purely to increase the amount of exercise I do to try to both prevent injuries and aim for some PBs at various distances in the spring.
So in total over January and February I managed to complete:
- 39 running sessions (284 miles)
- 24 static cycling sessions (over 17 hours)
For a total of 63 training sessions in 59 days. Not a bad start to the year at all! And already 4 training sessions ahead of target.
If you add to that all the core exercising (26 times) and the stretching that I am doing most days, it is a job well done so far.
Now I just have to hope that it has the desired effect and I can get some PBs in the spring.
Friday, 1 March 2013
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Half Marathon race pace
In 18 days time I will be running my 3rd ever half marathon and my first since 2009.
The main reason for planning this half marathon was purely to make me train hard over the last 2 months. I wouldn't say I have trained too hard, but I have at least done good mileage, my two highest monthly figures ever in fact, being up around 270 miles for the year to date as I type.
My current half marathon PB is 1:33:47 (I think) and my first aim is to beat this. Most people would think a PB was a sufficient target!
However, given my 10km PB (36:47) I feel that a new PB should be the least I should aim for.
My second target is to go under 1 hour and 30 minutes as this seems quite a significant milestone and a nice target, but I don't even want to stop there.
Thirdly and finally, my ultimate aim is for a time around 1:25. This is the aim that I am not sure if I can do. I believe that my first two targets should be relatively comfortable, whereas I really don't know if I am capable of 1 hour 25 minutes.
To achieve my 1:25 target I need to run roughly 6:30 per mile which equates to 4 parkruns of 20:10 back-to-back, plus an extra 4 minute final 1km. Not easy!
So today I decided to try to run this pace for 2 parkruns back-to-back, really in an attempt to learn my target pace so that I can easily drop into it on race day.
I ran a 1 mile warm-up, had a quick stretch and then set off, quickly getting the pace pretty close to, but slightly faster than my target (based on known parkrun distance landmarks).
I ran my first parkrun in 19:51, 19 seconds faster than my target. During the second parkrun I noticed the pace drop slightly but hoped that it was closer to target. At 20:11 and only 1 second over, it certainly was!
At this point I decided, in for a penny - in for a pound, what better way to give myself confidence than to run 9.3 miles at target pace, rather than 6.2 miles. With that in mind I carried on straight into my third back-to-back parkrun.
The third parkrun did start to get slightly tougher, but I still managed to stay on target pace and even up the pace slightly in the last 5 minutes for a 19:54.
This gave me a total triple parkrun freedom run time of 59:58. Under an hour for 15km (9.3 miles) is not to be sniffed at, especially considering it was a training run and I never felt troubled.
That time equates to a time of 6:28 per mile for those 9.3 miles, almost three-quarters half marathon distance and still under my target pace.
This gives me great confidence that I can run 6:30 per mile for 13.1 miles on race day. Possibly even faster!
The main reason for planning this half marathon was purely to make me train hard over the last 2 months. I wouldn't say I have trained too hard, but I have at least done good mileage, my two highest monthly figures ever in fact, being up around 270 miles for the year to date as I type.
My current half marathon PB is 1:33:47 (I think) and my first aim is to beat this. Most people would think a PB was a sufficient target!
However, given my 10km PB (36:47) I feel that a new PB should be the least I should aim for.
My second target is to go under 1 hour and 30 minutes as this seems quite a significant milestone and a nice target, but I don't even want to stop there.
Thirdly and finally, my ultimate aim is for a time around 1:25. This is the aim that I am not sure if I can do. I believe that my first two targets should be relatively comfortable, whereas I really don't know if I am capable of 1 hour 25 minutes.
To achieve my 1:25 target I need to run roughly 6:30 per mile which equates to 4 parkruns of 20:10 back-to-back, plus an extra 4 minute final 1km. Not easy!
So today I decided to try to run this pace for 2 parkruns back-to-back, really in an attempt to learn my target pace so that I can easily drop into it on race day.
I ran a 1 mile warm-up, had a quick stretch and then set off, quickly getting the pace pretty close to, but slightly faster than my target (based on known parkrun distance landmarks).
I ran my first parkrun in 19:51, 19 seconds faster than my target. During the second parkrun I noticed the pace drop slightly but hoped that it was closer to target. At 20:11 and only 1 second over, it certainly was!
At this point I decided, in for a penny - in for a pound, what better way to give myself confidence than to run 9.3 miles at target pace, rather than 6.2 miles. With that in mind I carried on straight into my third back-to-back parkrun.
The third parkrun did start to get slightly tougher, but I still managed to stay on target pace and even up the pace slightly in the last 5 minutes for a 19:54.
This gave me a total triple parkrun freedom run time of 59:58. Under an hour for 15km (9.3 miles) is not to be sniffed at, especially considering it was a training run and I never felt troubled.
That time equates to a time of 6:28 per mile for those 9.3 miles, almost three-quarters half marathon distance and still under my target pace.
This gives me great confidence that I can run 6:30 per mile for 13.1 miles on race day. Possibly even faster!
Sunday, 24 February 2013
425 to 2
A week ago I finished in 425 (and second last) place at Coventry parkrun.
This week I managed to finish 424 places earlier in 2nd place.
I wonder how many people have finished in the last two one week and the first two the next week? Not many I should think.
I even have a more impressive set of recent finishes than that:
3 weeks ago - 3rd last
2 weeks ago - 3rd place
1 week ago - 2nd last
Yesterday - 2nd place
I wonder what the next two weeks hold in store for me at parkrun!
This week I managed to finish 424 places earlier in 2nd place.
I wonder how many people have finished in the last two one week and the first two the next week? Not many I should think.
I even have a more impressive set of recent finishes than that:
3 weeks ago - 3rd last
2 weeks ago - 3rd place
1 week ago - 2nd last
Yesterday - 2nd place
I wonder what the next two weeks hold in store for me at parkrun!
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