Running in my Sunday Best

Day:         112

Distance: 6.33km/3.93 miles

Time:       32:54 secs

Calories:  521

So there was me thinking that I'd only manage the three runs this week.

We were visiting friends on Saturday and as we were staying over I enquired as to whether Stu fancied a run on the Sunday morning. He said he did, but as we had a number of beers to polish off still I didn't think there was much chance of bringing the weekly total up to four runs.

It was slightly surprising to find myself up at 8:30 the following morning pulling on an oversized Celtic shirt and a pair of long shorts which Stu presumably uses when he's decorating. It's fair to say that I wouldn't be winning any fashion prizes whilst doing this run. Luckily, I had a pair of trainers in the boot of my car so I didn't need to borrow any foot wear.

We set off around 8:50am and as Stu doesn't run as much as me he asked if he could set the pace. As I'm in my tapering period now I was more than happy for him to do this. I assumed that it would be a fairly easy pace, but Run Keeper shows that Stu unwittingly set the exact pace that I need to run at to complete the marathon in 3:40 minutes, which is 8:22 mins/mile. I wonder if he fancies joining me next week as a pace setter?

Our run took us from Stu's house and round Norman Park three times. I don't normally like running loops, but the route was blessedly free of hills and the chat as we were going round was good which, together with the bacon sandwich awaiting our return, all made for a very pleasant start to my Sunday.

Now, of course I'm into my final week of training and from everything I've read and been told this is a week when runners really take their foot off the gas, do a few light runs and start carb-loading in preparation for Sunday. Possibly the best bit of advice I've had has come from a colleague's partner who is a seasoned marathon runner:

In the last week it depends on how I feel but I tend to do as little as possible ... Stay horizontal on Saturday ... A glass of wine or a beer the night before won't do you any harm.

I intend to follow these pearls of wisdom to the letter.

Blister in the sun

Day:         111

Distance: 11.86km/7.37 miles

Time:       59:41 secs

Calories:  914

It's the last of the long runs. It doesn't feel all that long though as it's one of the shortest runs I've done since I started my marathon training - only the run at the end of week one was shorter than this. Still, I guess that's exactly what this tapering lark is supposed to be about.

It's another beautifully sunny morning and while it's a pleasure to run 7 miles or so in weather like this I am wondering what 26.2 miles in similar conditions will feel like. I've just checked the BBC's outlook for next week and it tells me that:

Temperatures will remain well above the seasonal average ... more dry weather can be expected across the south of England and Wales, whilst April's rain and showers will be found further north.

Granted, the BBC's weather forecasts should always be taken with a pinch of salt but it looks like I may need to get used to running in lovely, sunny, punishing weather. Still, it'll be nice for spectators.

Anyway, back to the run and the running playlist must have sensed that this was the last of the long runs as it saw me out in style. Around 20 minutes in I was treated to the finest threesome that an honest married man can enjoy; "I wanna be sedated" by the Ramones, "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" by the Vaccines and "Get Free" by the Vines. Three perfectly formed nuggets of rock n' roll to propel me along the street of London. At the time it feels as if my ipod has judged my mood perfectly, but then I remember that the playlist is stuffed to the seams with tunes of this quality - a fact that is highlighted when the Vines segue into Funeral Party's "Finale" which has a fantastic riff built for speed.

Although I have now decided to run the marathon sans ipod the running playlist has been fantastic for the training runs that I've done over the last few months. It's been there to spur me on when energy levels have dropped, it's been there to put a smile on my face when the right song comes on at the right moment and it's been integral to my enjoyment of the last 111 days. I had originally planned to use it on the marathon, but I've been advised that the crowd and the atmosphere of the day do the exact same job. In addition, I have friends and family coming out to watch me so I'd like to be able to see those who do come out to cheer me on.

Speaking of spectators, I need to sit down at some point and work out where I'm going to be at certain points. I'll post those details up over the next few days.

Anyway, to finish off today's post I'm going to leave you with another song from the Vaccines. I've mentioned this band quite a few times on this blog (not as many times as the National, admittedly). I picked up their wonderfully titled debut album "What did you expect from the Vaccines?" last week and I'm really pleased with it, so here's their latest single which features a very insistent chorus and a great line about "all the friends I do not like as much as you".

Summer in the city

Day:         110

Distance: 7.43km/4.62 miles

Time:       36:56 secs

Calories:  623

It's a beautifully sunny end to the week. It's only April but the last few days have felt decidedly summery. After months of running through snow, wind, rain and plunging temperatures this feels like a nice reward.

With the sunlight streaming in through the bedroom curtains I have no difficulty waking up early to prepare for this run into work. I actually have to get up earlier now than I was a couple of weeks ago as I need to fit in the various stretches that the physio's given me. The stretches for the Iliotibial band on my left leg seem to have  sorted out the problem that I had a couple of weeks back, so I'm more than happy to get up that little bit earlier to do them.

When I first started running into work a couple of years back this run would take anything up to 45 minutes. I've not done it in a little while, so I was more than a little surprised to get to the end of it and find I'd done it in the time recorded above. I think it shows the progress that I've made as I've chipped away at the marathon training over the last few months.

Without even trying I ran this 7.5km route at a really decent pace. Run Keeper has recorded it at 8 mins/km on average. That's considerably faster than I need to go in order to complete the marathon in 3:40 mins. In fact, averaging that pace would give a finish time of around 3.5 hours. Granted, the marathon is around 22 miles longer than this route but after Wednesday's 32 minute run left me knackered and out of breath I'm looking for all the positives I can find.

Talking of positives and thinking again about the sunny weather I found myself thinking about a band called Symposium for probably the first time in 10 years. There's no reason why you should be aware of this bunch of 'erberts from Shepherds Bush, but back in the late '90s I quite enjoyed their punk pop offerings. I seem to remember the NME wetting themselves over their early singles - not that that's any kind of guide to quality (yep, I still remember them labelling Andrew WK "the saviour of music"). 

Anyway, the song that I was thinking of in particular was called "Drink the sunshine". The wonderful title seemed very appropriate, but when I listened to the song earlier today I was struck by how ordinary it was. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be, clearly. Luckily, Symposium did have other upbeat, sunny numbers up their sleeves so I'm pleased to recommend "Farewell to twilight" instead. Let's hope the sunshine continues!

Father I have sinned ...

Day:         108

Distance: 6.29km/3.91 miles

Time:       33:20 secs

Calories:  517

It's been four days since my last run. I am now officially in the 'tapering' period of my marathon training, so I am supposed to be easing off but that's ridiculous. 

Turning 30 hasn't helped matters, not because I've spent the last few days weeping for my lost youth (although I have been doing plenty of that), but because celebrations have rather got in the way of marathon training. On Saturday me and my mate Landy waved goodbye to our 20s with our last ever birthday pub crawl - the suitably messy Zombie pub crawl through London. The crawl started at midday and took us through South London and into the West End via 14 taverns and ale houses. As ever, our mates made a phenomenal effort on the dressing up front so I wanted to share this photo with you.

Night of the Living Dead London style.

After a 12 hour session (and all the extra time taken to scrub off facepaint and peel off latex skin) there was no chance that I'd be running on the Sunday. The fact that I was flying to Austria in the afternoon also meant that there'd be no run on either Monday or Tuesday, so actually this run on Wednesday morning (4 days after the last run) was really the best I could do. Honest guv.

When I did finally set out for a run the mind was willing but my withered 30 year old body was less than able. I intended to go out for 45 minutes, but felt so shattered after 25 minutes that I decided to cut the run short and head for home. I arrived home covered in sweat and out of breath. A 32 minute run really shouldn't be causing me this many problems this far into my marathon training. Worrying.

The Acid Test

Day:         104

Distance: 21.59km/13.42 miles

Time:       1:53:07 secs

Calories:  1,883

It's now a week since I hurt my knee. In that time I've been to the physio, been reassured by the physio, done my stretches and been out on three increasingly long runs. Everything up until this point has gone well, but the real test is undertaking a long run. When I've had problems with my knee it seemed to occur at or around the 10 mile mark, so a 13 mile run should give a good indication of whether or not I'm going to be able to run the London Marathon on April 17th.

Well, I won't hold you in suspense.

The run went really well, there was no pain or discomfort in my left knee* and I also managed a decent pace of 8:26 mins/mile. That's a tiny bit slower than what I would need to run to achieve my goal of 3:30 mins, but I'm just so relieved that these 13 miles passed off uneventfully that I'm not going to beat myself up over my pace.

Over the course of the last week I've gone from the lowest point in my marathon training to one of the many high points I've experienced over the last 104 days and, so, to celebrate I thought I'd share another song from the running playlist. Every time this song comes on it puts a smile on my face and some more fuel in my muscles. It also seems to suit the beautiful weather that we're enjoying in London at the moment. I couldn't find a great video for the song, but it doesn't matter when the material's as good as this.

* It should be noted that there was some pain in my right knee though. I don't know if this is because I've been over-compensating on the left side or not (or maybe it's just old age), but I've started doing the physio's stretches on that side as well.

First run of the thirties

Day:         102

Distance: 10.86km/6.75 miles

Time:       57.42 secs

Calories:  899

It's been a busy old week since I last posted. In that time I've turned 30, drunk far too much and been on a very brief work trip to Vienna. Hence, I'm only now writing up a run from last Wednesday (as I write this it's the following Tuesday).

As you may have read, I hurt my knee the week before and I was seriously worried that it would affect my ability to run the London Marathon, so I took tentative steps over the week. This was the third run of the week and as I hadn't had any problems on the two previous runs I wanted to test my knee out by running further and for longer. 

As with the two previous runs I'm pleased to report that I didn't experience any problems with my left knee. In addition, Run Keeper shows that my average pace was 5.19 mins/km, which is a fairly normal pace for me - so I could feel the confidence which I'd lost in the previous week beginning to return.

Last run of the roaring twenties

Day:         100

Distance: 8.19km/5.09 miles

Time:       43:54 secs

Calories:  684

And so it happens that on the 100th day of my marathon training I hit another landmark - the last run of my twenties. It's fair to say that I'm happier to reach one of these milestones more than the other.

Anyway, after the problems with my knee last week this was another gentle run out. I found myself concentrating less on my knee than I had done in the previous run and I could feel myself regaining some of the confidence that I lost last week, but as I said before I'm not really going to know the lie of the land until I tackle the 15 miles I have planned for Saturday. 

I've just been compiling some stats and since I started my training I've been out on 59 separate runs, covered 669 km (416 miles) and run for more than 62 hours. Fingers crossed my knee be all right and the last 100 days won't have been in vain.