One February Friday

Day:         54

Distance: 6.76km

Time:       39.37secs

Calories:  563

It's another early start and one that isn't helped by the fact that the last song I hear while getting my running gear together is "Shoot the runner" by Kasabian. Thanks for those words of encouragement XFM.

Putting worries about the possibly prophetic nature of the song to one side I head out and find that my legs are feeling the effects of yesterday's fartlek outing. This just gets better.

On the plus side, I do have company today as Jim joins me for a pre-work run. He's now just 3 weeks away from the Silverstone Half Marathon and he already has designs on the St Albans Half Marathon later in the year - I think this underlines the addictive nature of running. Jim started running 10k events a few years back and his experience (along with other friends) inspired me to give it a go for myself, since running my first 10k in November 2008 I've been hooked and haven't looked back.

As ever, I digress.

Once we set off my legs stop protesting and we tackle this 7km route at a fairly easy pace (averaging 5:51 mins/km across the 40 minutes). Although the training plan recommends "45 mins steady" I'm quite happy to run at this pace as I've still got another run to do on Sunday and at 26km or so I want to be in a fit state for that.

Assuming all goes to plan, the run on Sunday will take me to five runs this week, which I'm really pleased about. I only managed to fit three in last week and, as a result, felt like I wasn't doing enough so it's good to be hitting the target set by the training plan again this week. I was always a little concerned about how to fit the running around work and a social life but the fact that I was in the mosh pit at Funeral Party's gig at Cargo last night and still got up for a 6.30am run suggests that it is doable.
 

Funeral Party's energetic stage show in full, irresistible flow. I was down the front. Should have thanked them for providing one of the standout tracks on my running playlist ("NYC moves to the sound of LA")



Are you going backwards, or are you going forwards?

Day:         53

Distance: 8.31km

Time:       40:29 secs

Calories:  639

It's an early start (out the door at 6:20am) and the training plan has dictated a fartlek run consisting of "40 mins 2 mins easy 8 mins fast x 4". Given previous posts you could be forgiven for thinking that I'd be dreading this run and normally you'd be right, but last night I finally put together a fartlek playlist and I was looking forward to trying it out.

Compiling a playlist for a fartlek session is quite difficult as the majority of songs lasting for around 2 minutes in my itunes library are 200mph punk numbers. I have a pretty limited number of slow 2 minute long songs to choose from. The second problem is, essentially, the reverse of the first. There aren't a whole lot of fast songs which last for 8 minutes, so I'm left trying to beat match a number of fast songs so as to create a vaguely consistent tempo.

The first 10 minutes began with British Sea Power's slow-building opener "All in it", which lasts for 2:13 secs. This set me up perfectly for the 'slow' tempo start to the run before the Vaccines, Idlewild, The Ramones and The Rakes crashed the party and got me running at a 'fast' tempo for 8 minutes. Run Keeper underlines the effectiveness of this mix as I was running at 6:25 mins/km in the first minute, but when "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" by the Vaccines kicked in in the third minute I was propelled forward at 3:52 mins/km - a pretty impressive change in tempo. While the tempo wasn't constant for the entirety of this 'fast' section most of those eight minutes saw me record an average speed around or below 4:30 mins/km.

The second 10 minutes began with Mark Kozelek's cover of AC/DC's "Love at first feel". This acoustic beauty gave me 2:12 secs of respite before Blur's "We've got a file on you" informed me that it was time to pick up my pace. This was followed by "Oh Yeah" (The Subways), "22 Grand Job" (The Rakes) and "I wanna be sedated" (The Ramones). Again, the effectiveness of the music mix is clear to see as for the two minutes of 'slow' running I was averaging 6 mins/km. For the 8 minutes of 'fast' running that followed this I was able to maintain a pretty fast pace, although I can see that I definitely slowed down for the last couple of minutes (the last minute of this section took 5:41 mins/km).

Relief was on hand at the start of the third section as Michael Cera and Ellen Page (the stars of "Juno") serenaded me with a cover of the Moldy Peaches' "Anyone else but you". The 'fast' section was run to the sound of the View ("Wasted Little DJs") and Arcade Fire ("Month of May"). By this time it really felt as though I was running through treacle and the difference between the slow and fast tempos seemed, if not exactly non-existent, certainly less pronounced. So, I'm pleased to look at the stats on Run Keeper and see that there was still a clear difference between the two paces.

The final quarter began with Bill Withers singing "Ain't no sunshine". It's a good song to slow the pace down, but I hadn't realised how bloody repetitive it is. In one chorus (?) alone he repeats "I know" 26 times. Twenty six. I thought my ipod was skipping.

It was with some relief that the Libertines' "I get along" kicked off the final 'fast' section of the run. This was followed by "Readers and Writers" by Idlewild - which I've already mentioned on this blog as being a song that really helps to fire me up. This was trumped by the final song on the playlist, "White Riot" by the Clash - one of my all time favourite songs. As soon as that urgent two chord riff started up I felt completely re-energised and this is demonstrated by Run Keeper which shows that those last two minutes were conquered in 4:11 and 4:51 mins/km respectively.

So there we have it. Proof that a fartlek playlist can be done and can be very effective. I've got some more of these runs coming up in the next few weeks and now I've got this playlist sorted I may even look forward to them, more so when I've found a replacement for "Ain't no sunshine".

Run to the hills

Day:         51

Distance: 9.97km

Time:       53:43 secs

Calories:  768

The training plan calls for "60 mins including 8 x 1 min hill climbs, jog down to recover". Although hills have featured in some of the runs I've been doing, I have shied away from doing those runs which demand a certain number of hill climbs. This is largely because there aren't a lot of hills round where I live or work, which means that I'd need to keep running up and down the same hill which would look and feel a bit weird.

However, I was reading a Runner's World article today which changed my mind. The article nailed my feelings about hill climbs, as it correctly notes that hills are ...

"an obstacle, standing in the way of fast times, a burden to be endured, a muscle-sapping, lung-bursting exercise in pain"

But the article, and others I've read, also says that hill climbs are good for runners (how sadly predictable) as:

"Training on hills improves leg-muscle strength, quickens your stride, expands stride length, develops your cardiovascular system, ... In short, hill running will make you a stronger, faster and healthier runner"

Well, I've tried to follow the training plan as much as possible so I guess I need to give these hill climbs a proper go. While the training plan is pretty specific on the number and length of these hill climbs it doesn't give a clear steer on general pace or whether all 8 climbs should be done in one burst or if they should be spread out across the hour. 

With no help from the training plan, I set off at a pretty fast pace (averaging around 4:30 mins/km for the first 10 mins). The gap left by the training plan was filled, initially, by an opening burst of rock n' roll from AC/DC in the form of "Safe in New York City". The song benefits from a rock solid drum beat which saw me flying from the blocks.

The first hill hove into view around 12 minutes into the run and I realised that my initial pace may have been a mistake as I was already knackered and the thought of "a muscle-sapping" hill climb was not altogether appealing. As the route I was following featured two hills I'd already decided that I'd do four hill climbs up the hill on Lordship Lane. My concerns about looking weird whilst doing these hill climbs was heightened somewhat by the people who were sitting in the laundrette at the bottom of the hill. It might just be my paranoia, but I'm pretty certain I was getting increasingly bemused looks from them as I struggled back to the bottom of the hill each time. 

After the fourth hill climb came to a merciful end some 20 minutes into the run I continued on my way. Normally, 20 minutes into a run I would be feeling warmed up. Not today, I was absolutely shattered and it's pretty telling that in the 15 minutes which followed the initial hill climbs I was running at a considerably slower pace than when I'd started (around 5:50 mins/km).

I hit the second hill, this time on Forest Hill Road (there's a clue in the name), around the 35 minute mark and I remember feeling absolutely determined to take the fight to the hill. So, it's quite pleasing to look at the stats on Run Keeper and see that the following was recorded:

          Minute 35 - 4:03 mins/km

          Minute 36 - 6:15 mins/km

          Minute 37 - 4:33 mins/km

          Minute 38 - 6:23 mins/km

          Minute 39 - 4:32 mins/km

          Minute 40 - 7:59 mins/km

          Minute 41 - 5:43 mins/km

          Minute 42 - 5:50 mins/km

Ok, so I slowed down markedly on the final hill climb (Minute 41) but I think these stats show pretty clearly that I tried my hardest to follow the training plan's diktat of running up and then jogging down a hill. Let's hope this does go some way to making me a "stronger, faster and healthier runner".

After the second set of hill climbs I again continued on my way. The route was slightly shorter than the 60 minutes it should have been, but for once I didn't mind as I felt I'd put in a lot of effort and by the time I reached home I was out of breath, absolutely knackered and very glad that tomorrow is a rest day. 

I won't be no runaway

Day:         50

Distance: 7.48km

Time:       46:00 secs

Calories:  618

"It's Monday night, it's 7.00, it's ... another 45 minute run at 'easy' tempo"

Not quite as catchy as the old opening line from Top of the Pops admittedly, but I thought I needed a new way to introduce yet another Monday night run of this length and this tempo.

If that makes it sound like I'm bored of doing this run or of running in general then I should say that that is most definitely not the case. In fact, tonight could well go down as one of those perfect runs. An audit of the run would show that I felt good (no aches or pains after Saturday's long run), I ran at a decent 'easy' tempo (averaging 6:09 mins/km) and I was lucky enough to be running on a very mild night (no sign of those strong winds which we were fighting against on Saturday). Speaking of the weather, this is the first run so far when I haven't gone out with gloves on. I still wore a hat, but that's not to keep my head warm its primary role is to keep my headphones in place.

Regular readers (if I have any) may recall that I piloted the National's "High Violet" album as a ready-made playlist for slower runs last week. It worked so well that I did the same again this week. It really is the perfect album for this sort of run as it helps me to settle into a remarkably constant pace for the whole 45 minutes; the fastest kilometre took 5:57 secs while the slowest took 6:19 secs. The slowest kilometre was also the final kilometre but I don't think it was slower because I was tired, rather it was because that kilometre was run to the sound of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" - my favourite song on the album and the only song I didn't get to hear in last week's slightly shorter run.

I posted up a video of "Vanderlyle ..." last week, so for your listening pleasure this week I'm posting "Runaway" this week. When we saw the National last year this was the opening number. I'm more used to gigs where the opener is an explosive statement of intent (e.g. Rage Against the Machine opening with "Bombtrack" at Reading in 2009), but this was a surprisingly effective opener on the night. The lyric "I won't be no runaway" seems particularly apt given the slow nature of tonight's run.

The long and winding road

Day:         48

Distance: 22.1km

Time:       2:02:11 secs

Calories:  1,746

The plan called for "120 mins 20 mins easy 20 mins steady x3". I translated this into a run of around 25k and duly set about working out a route which you can view here. As we were back in Essex for a friend's 30th birthday this weekend I was accompanied by my brother-in-law Ravi. Now, Ravi's new to this blog so allow me to introduce him briefly. Ravi is very much a natural runner. He ran his first marathon in 2010 and did virtually no training for the event. Since that marathon in October he reckons he's been out running twice and yet I never had any doubts about his ability to run with me for 2 hours. In fact, I wondered whether I'd end up slowing him down.

As you may have noticed, the statistics from this run show that we didn't actually complete the full 25km that I'd mapped out. I think there are three main reasons for this.

Firstly, it's fair to say that the weather conditions weren't ideal for a long run. No matter which direction we were running in we found ourselves battling against an incredibly strong wind. Given that the route I'd worked out was essentially a rather large loop logic would suggest that at some point we would benefit from the wind pushing us along rather than holding us back, but although there were moments of respite neither of us could remember a time in which the wind had made the running any easier for us.

The second difficulty we had to contend with was the long and winding country roads that we spent much of our time on. It would appear that the good people of Doddinghurst have something against pavements, because there really aren't a whole lot of them in that particular part of Essex. This meant that Ravi and I were spending a fair amount of time nervously looking over our shoulders and jumping on and off the verge at the side of the road so as to avoid traffic. Sometimes this meant that we had to stop completely. I'm always keen to get a good time on these runs, but I'm also quite keen to avoid becoming road kill. Speaking of which, lying on one of the verges was what looked very much like a wild boar. Given that the only knowledge that I have of wild boars is that which I gleaned from the Asterix books I loved as a kid I may well be wrong, but it certainly looked like a small, hairy pig.

A wild boar yesterday.

The third difficulty we encountered is related to the second. One country road looks pretty much like any country road and, as a result, I managed to get us hopelessly lost. In my defence, I haven't lived in Essex for about 5 years now so I don't know the roads as well as I could. When we ran past one turning I did wonder whether we should be following that road rather than the one we were on. Unfortunately, I decided not to listen to that little voice in my head and so we went on a magical mystery tour of a hitherto unexplored rural part of Essex. There were a number of times on this unplanned detour when we had to stop, not because we were tired but because we were both scratching our heads trying to work out where the hell we were at that point. Around the 18km mark, Ravi recognised our location and he suggested that we carry on until the only landmark he could think of in the area - a BP station. So, on we ran ... and ran ... and ran, until 4km later we finally reached our new destination. 

I've plotted our actual route and can see quite clearly now that things went awry at the 13km mark when we didn't turn right onto Hall Lane as I had intended. If you have a look at the route map you'll note that our start and end points were some distance apart. To run back to our starting point would have added some considerable distance to an already long run and, so, with metaphorical tail between legs I had to phone up for a lift home. How embarrassing.

So, although we didn't complete the 25km I'd mapped out I feel pretty satisfied with this run. For one thing, this was 2.5km further than I ran last week which seems like solid progress. Now I think about it the planned increase from 19.6km to 25km seems like too much of a leap. I think I had it in my head that I'd done a half marathon distance (that is, 21.1km) last week, so the 25km sounded right at the time. The other key reasons to be cheerful are that this is officially the furthest I have ever run (up until yesterday a half marathon was the furthest I'd done) and it's also the longest amount of time that I've been running for.

Fitter, stronger

Day:         46
Distance: 9.19km
Time:       49:51 secs
Calories:  708

It's looking likely that this will be the first week in which I don't manage to fit in at least four runs. This means that I need to choose between two different types of run from the Guardian's training plan. Do I go with the "60 mins including 8 x 1 min hill climbs" or the "50 mins 10 mins steady 25 mins tempo 15 mins steady"?

I decide to go with the latter, on the assumption that the prescribed changes in tempo will be more beneficial to my fitness. I used to go to circuit training at a local gym and I always remember the trainer's insistence at these sessions that circuits "will make you fitter, they will make you stronger". While this is not circuit training, the changes in tempo mean that it's in a similar kind of ball park.

It all started so well. I was pleased to find that the heaviness in my legs that I felt on Tuesday's run was no longer there as I set off with the sound of "Bubbles" by Biffy Clyro in my ears. Run Keeper shows that in the first ten minutes I was averaging around 5:45 min/km. As dictated by the training plan, my pace quickened considerably after the first ten minutes. For the next ten minutes I was pounding the pavements at an average speed of around 4:30 per km - quite a step up from the 'steady' pace I had started with.

Everything was going swimmingly until around 4 kilometres in when I hit Chadwick Road (where I used to live, incidentally), which is basically one long hill. The two previous kilometres had been nailed in 4:41 min/km and 4:35 min/km, respectively, while the kilometre that covered Chadwick Road took around a minute longer (5:34 min/km) and this was supposed to be part of my "25 mins tempo". Even though the hill did eventually end I was unable to regain the pace that I had been running at previously and, to make matters worse, around 30 mins into the run I developed a stitch. This is the first time in nearly 7 weeks of marathon training in which I've had a stitch. I'm not sure what brought it on, but I managed to run it off after a couple of minutes.

Suffice to say, by the time I got back to the flat I was shattered and looked like an absolute sweaty mess but I think this run and, in particular, the inclusion of the hill will have really helped make me both fitter and stronger. At least, I hope it will have.

The National? Grand.

Day:        44

Distance: 6.92km

Time:       40:23 secs

Calories:  550

I wasn't able to get out for my Monday night run as I was working late, so that meant an early morning wake up call was the order of the day today. Like last week I planned to get up and out by 6am. I distinctly remember peering out from under the covers to see the electronic display on my alarm clock at 05:54. The next thing I knew was at 6:30am when the alarm on my phone went off and I realised I'd been dozing whilst listening to the music on XFM which was supposed to wake me up. So, for this run I was out the door by 6:40 - not as early as last week, but still pretty good.

In previous posts when I've talked about going out for 'easy' tempo runs I've bemoaned the lack of slower songs on my running playlist. I've even floated the idea of creating a playlist specifically for these runs to help me run at a slower pace. I never have got round to that, but I now wonder whether I even need to because inspiration struck last night.

My great musical discovery of 2010 - courtesy of my mate Dan - was the National and, in particular, their "High Violet" album which was released last year. The album is damn near perfect, from the opening shimmer of "Terrible Love" on there really isn't a moment in which they falter. It also happens to be fairly slow and, perhaps more importantly, steady. There are no 200mph riffs on this album, and that was why I thought it would make it a suitable soundtrack for a 40 minute run at an easy tempo.

I was right. The aforementioned opener got me started at a nice easy pace of 6:20 secs per kilometre. The analysis provided by the Run Keeper app shows that "High Violet" helped me to maintain a remarkably steady pace for the entire 40 minutes. Overall I averaged 6:15 secs per kilometre, with the fastest km taking 6:04 secs and the slowest taking just 17 seconds more. That all seems pretty consistent to me and, so, I must conclude that as well as producing the stand out album of 2010 the National have also produced a priceless running aid for these slower runs. 

Despite this great discovery this wasn't a great run. My legs didn't ache after Sunday's run (which was good), but there was a definite heaviness this morning that I was unable to shake (which was not good). If the scheduled run had been longer than 40 mins I think I would have struggled to manage it all. Hopefully, this run will have helped to loosen my legs up in time for the next run which will be 60 mins long and should include "8 x 1 min hill climbs".

Before I go I'd like to leave you with a video of the National performing a completely acoustic version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" from their gig at the Brixton Academy last year. When I say 'acoustic' I should explain that I don't just mean they put down their electric guitars, the amps were all turned off, no microphones were used, the band came to the front of the stage and a reverent hush fell over the crowd for the duration of the song. I had the great pleasure of being there and in a show that enthralled from beginning to end and this spine-tingling encore was the moment that made you feel privileged to be in the crowd. Unfortunately, because this is the last song on an album with a running time closer to 48 minutes I didn't experience the joy of running to this heartbreakingly beautiful song.