2 Steps Forward Then 2 Steps Back

After finally making up all the ground I had lost over December die to snow and ice, I managed to pick up a chest infection and was under doctors orders to rest and take things easy.  So for 2 weeks I did no running whatsoever and went from 20 miles ahead of target to 24 behind.

I'm going to do this lot of catching up a wee bit more slowly than I did with the last lot.

On the positive side, I've now past the halfway mark.  There is a little chink of light at the end of a very very long tunnel

Keep Warm, Be Seen and Carry On!!

I've done it!! Yippee

I've finally done it.  I am now ahead of target.  Yesterday was the last day of week 23 and the first time since week 2 that I've actually been in credit.

At the start of the year I was 46 miles behind, but with January and start of February having decent weather and with a bit of effort, I've managed to make up the deficit. 

I've averaged 36 miles a week for the last month and a bit. And last week I actually managed to break through the 40 miles in a week barrier (Which included back to back half marathon runs).

I'm now looking to push on and get to the end of week 26 (1st March) and be at least 26 miles ahead.

It's now less than 10 weeks to the London Marathon (Other marathons are available) and i've also signed up for my first Ultra Marathon on 21st May where I will be completing the complete length of the Sandstone Trail from Whitchurch to Frodsham (33 miles)

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2011

2010 finished on a bit of a sour note.  Unfortunately at the Liverbird Double Marathon, I slipped on a step and jarred my back and had to retire after 21 miles.  I'm sure I could have finished the last 5 and a bit miles but I didn't want to to myself any lasting damage, all made even worse by the fact that I was on for a fantastic new (Outdoor) PB of around 4 hours 40 minutes.

I am planning to hit the running hard and have a plan to claw back the miles I've lost because of the snow and ice over the next couple of weeks.  All being well I will be back on target and possibly even ahead by the 1st of February.  I've found that doing double sessions on a Saturday and Sunday means I can really get the miles in and get back on track.

After a run tonight, I'll have less than 900 miles to go and a light is beginning to appear at the end of the very long tunnel.

Has it Been That Long?

I didn't realise it had been so long since my last blog (Over a month).  In that time I've added another 101.83 miles to the total taking it to over 400 miles run now.

The weather over the last 2 or 3 weeks has not been conducive to running at all with snowfall and lots of ice, which has unfortunately meant that instead of being on target.  I am now 44 miles behind  (luckily with 34 weeks left to go, so a mile extra a week will see me through and at least now there is a thaw on and I have my double marathon to come on Friday (31st Dec) and Saturday (1st Jan) which should catch me up quite nicely.

I promise i'll be less slack at keeping you updated in the future.

A Treadmill Marathon and a new PB

An unusual marathon this week. It was done on a treadmill, so a huge thanks to Max, Jo and Rob at Pure Gym Manchester.

It wasn't nearly as tough as i imagined it was going to be. The time absolutely flew past, which is no surprise considering i absolutely smashed my previous PB by over 20mins.

My new PB is 4 hours 29 minutes and 40 seconds.

The main reason I think for this new record is that there in no wind resistance and the "course" was flat for the entire 26.22 miles. I had my own energy drink in bottles rather than grabbing a cup from a local scout group. Just lots of little things that added up to a great run.

Even now my legs do not feel nearly as sore as they have done after other marathons. I can see this becoming a bit of a "thing" and i might approach other gyms with a view to running with them as well

Wild and Windy and a Double Marathon

It's been a while since I last updated my blog (apologies for that).

Unfortunately I missed a couple of runs on the 6th and 7th due to illness and that set me back even further against target and by the end of this running week I'll be 16 miles behind where I need to be.

Luckily the lovely people at Pure Gym in Manchester are letting me run a full marathon one on of their treadmills on Saturday 20th November and that combined with a few miles on Wednesday and a few the following Tuesday should really bring the miles back and I'll only be 8 or 9 miles behind.

Wet Weather and Birthdays

Another week has come and gone and I've slipped further behind target. I'm now 12.5 miles behind which is a bit of a shame considering I was slowly crawling back the shortfalls created after the Nottingham and Leicester Marathons.

There was no way I was running in that weather last night, not only was the rain falling in biblical proportions but it was being blown in sideways.

I'll hopefully be able to add a mile or so to each run planned in for this week and I'll have made 5 of the 6 up that I missed last night.

I've sent my application off for the Liverbird Marathon Double (2 back to back marathons on Hogmanay and New Years Day). I'm looking forward to it in a strange way.

On a very happy note, It was my birthday on Monday and the lovely Mrs Miller managed to get me booked in to have a testing session at Edge Hill University to measure my VO2 Max and my Lactate Threshold. I'm far too excited and looking forward to being made to run to exhaustion.

Week 8

Another disrupted week of running. Hamish turned 2 on Monday and my folks were down for the weekend for his party, so that meant no running on Saturday (Running was replaced with Hamishs party then 5 hours in the pub with my dad and brother playing darts) or Sunday (Hangover!!).

That meant I had to cover 12 miles on Monday which I split into an 8 mile run at lunhtime and then a 4 mile run in the evening.

Tuesday night brought warm but windy conditions, so there was no need for my compression t-shirt and long sleeved top. Those 6 miles were hell and my legs were no for working at all.

I should be at 209.76 miles and I'm currently sitting at 200.44 miles (I came down with a cold after the Nottingham Marathon which set me 12 miles back and post-marathon weeks are always shorter. At the end of week 3 I was just under 16.5 miles down, so I'm slowly catching up)

End of Week 7

A bit of a disjointed week this week.

I ended up running for on 6 days rather than my usual 5, all due to a fantastic nightout on Saturday and then a birthday party on Sunday. This meant I missed my SUnday long run. So I ended up running on a Friday and a Monday too (Which is never heard of).

I'm catching up on my planned miles and I'm just 3 miles behind where I should be. I'll hopefully have caught up on this end of this week although
I do have my folks coming down this weekend for Hamishs birthday, so I might not get my full quota in, but I'll do my best