Victory!

I did it.

Even though I didn't do it as fast as I'd wanted to, I did it.

On a lovely London Sunday in October I made my way around, with much less problems than I thought I would have, 13.1 miles through the Hyde, Green and St.James' Parks, plus a short venture out on the Strand and Westminister Bridge in 2 hours 16minutes and 32 seconds.

I'd hoped for a sub 2.15, but considering this was my first half marathon ever, and that my training hadn't gone as well as I'd hoped the last 4-6 weeks before the race, I'm still pleased.

What I'm not entirely pleased about is that my weight hasn't shifted the way I'd wanted it too.

Clearly I'm much fitter than I was when I started, but instead of being on the southern side of 14 stone, I'm just below 15. Admittedly a 10 day holiday to the US a month before the race did not help (as US visits rarely do), but should still be in better shape.

So, to avoid the post race sloth-like existence, I have set the following goals:

• Slightly modify my food intake: Less processed carbs, bring lunch to work and try to eat more healthy snacks throughout the day instead of the 3 larger meals.
• Sleep more: My Achilles heel. I sleep entirely too little, sometimes as little as 4 hours per night. With the MLB playoffs over (at least for my Red Sox), it should be easier to attain. No later than 1am on work nights!
• Create goals: I am now signed up for a 10k at the end of October, one more in November and a 6k race in December. I hope to find a few more races which should force me to maintain a decent running regime.
• Start preparing for team sports: I will start my baseball pre-season in a few weeks, working my core and hopefully strengthening my throwing arm to new heights.

Although the race is over, my path to fitness continues.

Niggles

Over the last month I have rolled over on my ankle, had back spasm and felt a resurging twinge in my hamstring. I guess all part of the training regime.

Or in my case more a lack of. I recently went to New York and wanted to run a lap around Central Park when it's closed for traffic on weekends....I lasted a total of 2 miles before my stiff back prevented any further forward motion.

So, what I envisioned as a running filled holiday, including the Central Park run and a 11 miler along the Charles River in Boston turned out to nought.

After a week of resting my weary and very inflexible back I restarted my programme, but was limited to 1 boot camp and one 4-5 mile run per week...until yesterday.

Feeling the pressure of the half marathon 2 weeks away, I decided to fit in one last long run to build mental strength more than anything, and managed to drag myself around 18km of Thamesside paths, my longest run to date.

Although my IT bands are killing me today, I feel more confident about the half now and can finish my programme with shorter runs and some speed work.

Getting there...

So now my training schedule defines an 8 mile run as an "Easy Run".

Well, not quite there yet. After going through another bout of sensational procrastination, I managed to drag my lazy posterior outside and trawl along the Thames in 1h15mins, keeping the pace below 9m30s mile.

Whilst the distance is still a novelty to me, I know I can run faster than this, so the next weeks will see if I can sustain the 9m flat pace on runs longer than 3-4 miles.

To break 2 hours for the 13 miles I need to run faster than 9.09 per mile, so I clearly have some work still to do.

So far in August: 43km.

Target: 60+

Weight: threatening to drop below 15 stone.

Next barrier

So I finally broke the double digit barrier....

10 miles in 1h36min along the Thames from Mortlake Bridge to Putney Bridge and back.

Despite not feeling very energetic during the day and procrastinating until 6pm before I finally put the running gear on, the run itself went very well and I had a fair amount of energy left at the 10 mile mark.

This coming weekend I'll see if I can lower the mile average from 9m40 closer to the 9min mark, which is a pace I'm more than capable at keeping when I do 10k or less. As this was 2 miles further than I've ever run before I suspect I was unsure of my capabilities and although my pace never varied more than 10-15 seconds per mile I think I can start out faster on Saturday and still complete the run without problems. As the baseball season finished with our loss in the playoffs on Sunday, I will now focus completely on running and training until picking up the ball again after the race. I also started doing military fitness type training in Chiswick with www.chiswickbootcamp.com, and in about a month I've seen a marked difference in my core strength and posture.

I've also lost about a stone since mid June, and although I suspect my initial target weight by the half marathon might be difficult to reach, I'm aiming for at least another 10 lbs by October 11th, which is quite feasible in the 6+ weeks to the race. My diet on occasion falters, but in general I eat healthy food....although my sweet tooth is still there.

This week's target is 27 miles; 3 miles today, 8 tomorrow, 3 on Thursday, 10 on Saturday and 3 more on Sunday. Quite looking forward to it!

PB

I broke the 8 mile mark today, and the pace has increased quite markedly.

I now run comfortably around the 9 min/mile mark and did my 8 miles in 1h13, also breaking my 10k PB in the process, now down to 57m.

Next week is a catch up week, so relatively easy runs before getting back on track with runs closing in on the dreaded double digit....

Yes, I've got some ways to go before I can challenge Paula, but considering where I started I'm pretty chuffed :)

Running...

Although I'm not completely up to the 4 runs per week mark the distances are increasing. On Saturday I did my longest run this year, 7.55miles, albeit in a somewhat slow time of 1h18m.

Yesterday I clocked another sub 60m 10k, and this weekend will break the 8mile barrier.

Now it's just about getting the miles into my legs and slowly but surely increase the pace.

Current weight: 97.7kg

Total km this month: 34.5

Back on track

Not too long after my last post I had a re-occurence of my hamstring problem, so I had to endure an enforced rest period of just over a month.

After 39km run in March, I managed 75 in April, just short of my target of 81k, but the injury in early May limited me to 21km.

After taking the first few weeks off in June, I managed to squeeze in 47 k in the rest of the month, including my first organised race of the year, a 10k in Crowthorne, Berks, which I despite the heat got around in under an hour, 59.17 seconds.

During the injury period I also decided to quit my tobacco consumption, which inevitably led to my sweet tooth coming back with a vengeance, and as its eternal compatriot, the weight gain followed suit.

My scales broken in a moving related incident ( :) ), and I finally bought a new set, but I suspect they are showing a little heavier than the old one. Still, I'll use the new bench mark, and I'm now hovering around the 98-99k mark.

I've now started my proper 16 week programme leading up to October 11th, and my target weight for the race is 85kg, which would be the lightest I've been since my early 20s.

I'm currently running at a 9.30 min/mile, or just under 6 min/k, but will try to get under the 9 min mile by the end of the month.

Runs this week:

1/7: 4.54 miles, 44mins.

Stay tuned.