Preparations could have been better...

I took 3 days off Friday through Sunday to give my knee a rest and it seems to be almost back to normal. 4.5 miles hard yesterday to blow away the cobwebs were done in 31:55. Unfortunately yesterday evening I also came down with a headcold - one of those where your eyes and nose are constantly streaming. More of the same during the day today, but it has dried up a little this evening. This week's mileage is going to be pretty low, but if nothing else I should be well rested for the marathon...

Another marathon racked up for Duncan in 2:36- not the time he was looking for, but the sub-2:30 reward for the step up in his training he has made lately will surely come his way before too long.

Last week's mileage:

Sunday: 20 miles
Monday: 4.5 miles
Tuesday: 3.5 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 12 miles
Friday: rest
Total: 44 miles

12 miles

Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:37:27

Tonight's run was was my usual Thursday threshold session - 3 miles easy, 6 miles of 5 minute threshold with 1 minute easy, and 3 miles easy to finish (although I think in reality the 3 miles were closer to steady than easy).

Tonight was another wind tunnel experience. One of the drawbacks about doing my long runs on an out and back route along the coast is that every so often I turn into an extremely strong headwind. I'm with Duncan on the wind - running is hard enough without nature making this worse. My 6 mile splits were 47 and 50 despite putting in more effort in the second half.

On the positive side I was able to keep pushing into the wind in the second half without feeling like I was going to blow up, which would not have been the case probably only a month or so ago. On the negative side, my knee was playing up a bit in the last few miles and is probably not far from developing into a full blown injury. So I suppose the sensible thing would be to take a couple of days off before enjoying an easy 2 week taper.

Treadmill

Distance: 4 miles

It was pretty windy today and my gym membership is just about to expire, so I thought I'd have one last whirl on the treadmill. I haven't done a treadmill session in months and the pros and cons all came flooding back - music, TV screen, no wind, place to keep a drink vs boring, tedious, dull and hot.

The thing I'd forgotten about is how much I sweat when I crank up the pace on a treadmill. If I trundle along at an easy pace I don't get too hot, but boredom forces me to go faster and then I start to sweat - buckets. And I also chose today as the first time in ages to wear a cotton, non-wicking t-shirt - not a good combination.

Today should have been a relatively easy session but, because I hadn't been on the treadmill for so long, I couldn't resist on going through an old pyramid session (increasing pace 1km per hour per minute) to see how it felt. And it felt pretty easy compared with how it used to, which was no real surprise but I expect to feel a little tired during tomorrow's theshold session.

My knee is still a bit weird. No pain, just a fuzzy sensation which seems to have migrated from the outside of my right knee to the front of the knee. If it starts to get painfull I'll probably follow joggerblogger's advice and try an ice pack.

Hello to Brett who had the misfortune to run past me going round Arthur's Seat. I had been thinking about getting a new outift to run in but I'm comfortable with my hat, my gloves and my lightweight t-shirt - I wash them every day, honest!

More easy miles

Distance: 3.5 miles

Today was usual Tuesday run with a work colleague at lunch. Not much to report, apart from the fact that I spent a little time studying my knee and I thought I detected a little bit of swelling. Its still not painfull in any meaningful way, and I'm guessing I've just upset whatever tendon or tendons run over the knee and to its outside. I'm also guessing that a complete break from running for at least a week after the marathon will be enough to sort it out.

Easy run

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 36:00
Route: Arthur A

Yesterday's run was my usual Arthur A route, and was probably the freshest I've felt the day after a 20 mile run.

20 miles

Distance: 20 miles
Time: 2:57

Today was (phew) the final long run before the marathon on 11 June. The weather was cold and wet, but at least it wasn't windy. I carried on with my recent practice of running 10 miles easy, 5 miles steady and 5 miles easy. I don't want to count my chickens too early, but that is the strongest I have felt in the closing stages of my long run, and I'm 99.999% sure there's enough in the tank to deliver a sub-4 hour marathon. How much I can dip below that is another matter of course. My knee had a few twinges again today - again, not so much pain as a strange sensation - but nothing too major given that it had to carry me for 20 miles.....

Some pics below from my long run route:

Portobello promenade, about two miles into my long run route. My route takes me along the coast, which curves around to the left (and beyond the the left-most point of this picture!)


The picture below is about 6 miles into my route with my eventual destination of the local power station just visible in the top left.



The picture below is taken at almost the same point from the picture above, but facing in the opposite direction - the large hill in the background is Arthur's Seat beside where I live.

End of the week

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 36 minutes
Route: Arthur A

Another run in the wind tonight. I was also feeling a little stiff and tired, and for the first half mile or so had that Thunderbird puppet feeling of the various bits of my body being forced to do something very unnatural. Once I got going things were OK. My knee was also OK, but still not 100%.

Saturday - rest
Sunday - 20 miles
Monday - 4.5 miles
Tuesday - 3.5 miles
Wednesday - 6.5 miles
Thursday - 12 miles
Friday - 4.5 miles
Total: 51 miles

51 miles for the week. Only the third 50 miles week I've done, and only one more to go before the taper.

Arthur's Seat

A couple of pictures of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, just beside where I live and which my running routes take me past a couple of times a week at least. I should make clear that my runs aren't actually to the top, but around the front or back, which is steep enough for me.....

12 miles

Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:40:00

Tonight's run was 12 miles, broken down into 3 miles easy, 6 miles of 5 minute threshold and 1 minute easy, and 3 miles easy to finish.

It wasn't a great run. First of all it was windy. It wasn't running into a headwind which caused me difficulties, so much as the fact that it was a gusty cross wind which made it difficult to get into a comforable stride. I was also a little stiff, which I put down to Sunday's 20 miler and the fact that my runs since then probably haven't been as easy as they should have been. Although I don't feel particularly tired this evening, I did during the threshold session of the run, and its the first time I've felt like that for a few weeks. Not necessary a bad thing (or surprising given the mileage I have been doing) but worth noting for the record nonetheless. My knee was also feeling a little funny again towards the end of the run. Not sore, just a sensation that something is not quite right on the outside of my right knee.

A run round Arthur A tomorrow will give me 51 miles for the week.

One more week like this week to go and then I've got the taper to the marathon to look forward to. My goal remains the same - break 4 hours. I think I'll try to set off as close to 9 minute miles (but erring just under rather than just over if possible) as I can, and just take things from there. My fear is of a marathon which goes something like: 14 miles of enjoying the scenery, occasion and ambience, followed by six miles of starting to feel tired and worrying about completing the distance, with the final 6 a death march on legs which are shot to pieces. That is basically what happened when I ran the Loch Ness marathon 3 years ago without doing any proper training for it (I did three runs over 10 miles, none of which were 14 miles or over). Not a clever thing to do, nor an experience I particularly want to repeat, and it shouldn't happen this time because of the training I have done - but the worry is there in the back of my mind. Serves me right.

More easy miles

Distance: 6.5 miles
Time: 54:15

An enjoyable run tonight in a light drizzle - not hard, but not too easy. Lots and lots of people out running. Young and old. Fast and slow.

My knee is still not 100%, but it has not yet developed into anything serious. Tomorrow will be the test - 12 miles, half of which will be at threshold pace.

Easy miles

Distance: 3.5 miles

An easy 3.5 miles with a colleague from work yesterday.

Hmmm

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 35.15
Route: Arthur A

After my run yesterday I developed an annoying burning sensation on the outside of my right knee - I've never experienced the sensation before but, after a bit of digging about, it does seem similar to iliotibial band syndrome - and by the end of the evening had become something of a concern whever I flexed my leg. The sensation was gone during the day today, returned a little during my run at tea-time, and has disappeared this evening. An injury of this sort just now would be very annoying, but on the other hand I only have a week and a bit to go until my taper. If it doesn't develop into anything serious and I can get through the next couple of weeks and then the marathon, I'll be able to take a couple of week's complete rest to hopefully get rid of any niggles. Anyway, definitely something to keep a close eye on.

Today's run was easy, recovery miles which in general felt OK after yesterday's 20 miles.

Today I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird to my laptop.

20 miles

Distance: 20 miles
Time: 2:58:00

This morning was a 20 mile effort along my usual long run route and is probably my second last long run before the marathon in June. I was feeling pretty good so did 10 miles easy, 5 miles in that grey area between marathon pace and threshold pace, and 5 miles easy to finish. Although I wasn't trying to push it, this run was 4 minutes faster than I've run 20 miles before, and breaking 3 hours for 20 miles in a training run is a nice little confidence booster before the marathon. In fact, I was feeling so good I half wished the marathon had taken place today. The only grip from today occurred in the last half mile - twice in quick succession I got noised up by some local teenagers who though it was funny to walk into my path and to hurl abuse. I should really just ignore this sort of thing, but it is just too tempting to hurl abuse back...

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Over the past week I've been watching Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere - hilarious...

End of the week

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 35:15

Yesterday's run was an easy-ish 4.5 miles to end the week. Not much to report apart from that I felt OK considering that was my 6th consecutive day running including last Sunday's 10k.

Saturday - rest
Sunday - 10k race
Monday - 4.5 miles
Tuesday - 3.5 miles
Wednesday - 9 miles
Thursday - 12 miles
Friday - 4.5 miles
Total - 39.5 miles

There is now 4 weeks to go until the Edinburgh marathon. The basic plan is for two more hard weeks of circa 50 miles which will each include 1 long run of 20 miles and 1 semi-long run which will include a threshold element. The last two weeks will obviously be a taper, and I was thinking of something like 30 miles in the 2nd last week and about 15 miles in the last week. But any comments on tapering would be gratefully received. I had a look at the marathon course map today, and rather amusingly it passes within about 20 feet of my front door.

My Garmin appears to be well and truly screwed. It is, however, still within its warranty period so I'll send it back to the manufacturers and see what happens. I'm even considering buying one of the new 205's and selling on my 201 if it is replaced by Garmin.

Threshold

Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:37:15

Tonight was my weekly threshold session: 3 miles easy, 6 miles of 5 minute threshold and 1 minute rest, and 3 miles easy. I didn't feel quite as good as I have done previously on this session. I think that is a combination of the weekend 10k, and the fact that my runs since then haven't been done at a completely easy pace. But I still managed to complete the 6 miles of threshold without too much difficulty. I have a slight niggle around my right knee cap - no pain, just a mild burning sensation which comes and goes. I don't generally have problems with my knees but will keep a close eye on this.

Also, my Garmin appears to be having a delayed reaction to being put through the wash. It is sticking in an "on" position and trying to pick up a satellite. I can't switch it off and the buttons aren't working. Not good. And I can't really afford to replace it at the moment.

Back training

Distance: 9 miles (no watch)

There's only a month to go until the Edinburgh marathon, so my basic plan is to put in two more weeks of effort (circa 50 mile weeks) and then taper for the two weeks before the big event.

Tonight's run of 9 miles gets me back into the wing of training properly after the weekend's race. The weather is beautiful in Edinburgh just now - in fact, too warm for my liking if you are out running.

Tomorrow I'll aim for a threshold session.

Photos

Distance: 3.5 miles

Today was a lunchtime run with a colleague from work - fairly easy, and just as well as I probably ran too fast last night and was feeling a little stiff.

One of my pictures from Sunday's 10k is below. I can't quite work out where it was taken, but I think it is from the home straight.



Confirmation of my entry to the Loch Ness marathon has arrived. It is scheduled for the beginning of October, so that provides me a 3 month build up after the Edinburgh marathon in June. My current plan is just to aim to break 4 hours in June, and then try for something a bit better in October.

The day after

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: no watch
Route: Arthur A

Today's run probably should have been a very easy effort, but I wasn't feeling much of an after-effect from yesterday's 10k so it ended up as being a fairly steady run.

The provisional chip times are available for the 10k and my time is shown as 45:05 which is the same as what I got on my watch - and which, in retrospect, shouldn't really be surprising although I did expect the odd second or two's difference. The final results and photos have yet to be posted.

Edinburgh Great Run 10k - 45:05

Distance: 10k
Time: 45:05 (watch time)
Event: Edinburgh Great Run 10k

This morning was the Edinburgh Great Run 10k - about 8,000 people took part in the race, which took in most of the sights of central Edinburgh and cut across one of weekly training routes.

This was my first 10k in about a decade and a half and I managed to break my season's taregt of 50 minutes - which wasn't too difficult. I'd been hoping to break 45 mins given the amount of running I've been doing over the past few months but unfortunately it looks like I didn't quite make it. The event was chipped, so I'll be interested to see how my official time works out.

The weather was a gloomy in Edinburgh this morning - cool, misty, raining but not too windy. Good conditions for running, but not so good for hanging about waiting to start.

The course was tough but not too bad - there were lots of little steep inclines and declines, and one long hill which I run about a couple of times a week on my Arthur A route. The changing elevation made it a little tough to judge pace, and I seemed to lose places on the downhill section and make them back on the uphill parts.

I'm always amazed by people who can give mile-by-mile accounts of their race - it all just blurs into one long slog for me.

My only gripe about today - the slow runners who insist on starting near the front of the race and cause mayhem for everyone else trying to get past them.

End of a light week

Distance: 4.5
Time: 34:00
Route: Arthur A

To round off an easy week of running in preparation for tomorrow's 10k, yesterday's run was a steady effort of 4.5 miles.

Sunday - 10 miles
Monday - 4.5 miles
Tuesday - 3.5 miles
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - rest
Friday - 4.5
Total: 22.5

I've managed to put my Garmin 201 through the washing machine and, although it still switches on, it is making a funny buzzing noize and I'm not overly hopeful of a complete recovery.

No kit

Distance: 0

I accidentally left my kit at work over the last couple of days so I had nothing to go running in this evening. No big loss as I was planning another rest day tomorrow anyway, so will just swap the days round. Even though this week I'm heading for about 40% of the mileage I did over the past 2 weeks I'm not (at the moment at least) feeling any more energetic than I usually do.

Fergus was asking about injuries. Knees have never been much of a problem for me (touch wood). My main problems over the past couple of years have been stress fractures and shin splints - the former brought on by football and the latter by running I suspect.

Easy miles

Distance: 3.5 miles

My usual Tuesday of an easy 3.5 miles with a work colleague at lunch. My legs are still still from DIY-ing at the weekend, so I'll have to put a halt to that until after Sunday's 10k.

Not long to go

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 45:15
Route: Arthur A

My legs are still a little stiff because of my DIY-ing, but they soon loosen up once out running.

Sunday's 10k will be mt first 10k in at least 15 years, which is a little bit scary to think about. My season's target is 50 minutes and I've no doubts I'll beat that. If I had to guess what time I'll actually run, I'm guessing somewhere near 45 minutes and with this race being chipped at least I'll have an official PB.

The 10k route is around the centre of Edinburgh, which I obviously know well, and at circa 4 miles it even takes me up the hill I run every week on my Arthur A route. I suspect this will be where my time is made or broken - if I can keep it steady up the hill without taking the energy out of legs I reckon I'll be on for a decent time.

10 miles

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:30

Sunday's long run was cut in half as part of my combined mini-taper toward next week's 10k and an "easier" weak after two 50 mile weeks.

My legs actually felt stiffer after the 10 miles than they have after 20 miles recently - but that was caused by lots of kneeling and squating through DIY-ing rather than the running itself.