Dunno how I’m doing this but I’m managing to tick off the weeks, getting the training done. This week was a volume of 95 miles which I managed. Mondays Long run was 22 miles split, 15 at 7:00 min pace, 7 at 6:50 pace, my old Alpha flys where brought out for this run, weather was okay at the start but all I remember from this run was I got a bit of everything thrown at me, head winds, cross winds which whipped your legs, driving rain, bright sunshine, and some still conditions ! Very bizarre! And of course finishing the run , about the last 2 miles into head wind. The final 5k I did notice some cramping kicking in my legs,around my inner thighs and quads, now I know route I chose was quite undulating, but surprised me how my legs reacted. Nutrition wise I stuck with the hi 5 gels, one every 30min on the run, plus took one just before heading out the door. Got the run done, felt good and recovery from the run was fine to. I’ve always found after I’ve showered I like to go out for a walk around my village, definitely helps me recover better, I really don’t like just to sit down with my feet up, I just stiffen up so bad.

Tuesday was easy double day which was so nice, Wednesday was mid week long run, 15 miles at marathon pace ( 6:50 pace ) for this I did 3 loops of a 5:25 mile loop which I know really well, only took 1 gel with me today, and weather conditions were pretty good today, with it being a looped course there was a 1 1/2 mile section coming back into the village which was head wind, but that was find. Nailed this run and I think it probably was one of the best I’ve felt, just ticking over at this pace nicely.

Thursday was and easy run and my session which was 6x1mile the 6x1min all off 2 min jog, I tried to keep the mile efforts around 10k pace ish, then about 80% for the 1 min efforts.

Rest day Friday and easy running Saturday and Sunday, 95 miles bagged, onto week 10.

Sleep I’ve made a priority, going to bed at 9:30 and making sure I’m getting 8 hours or more sleep has helped to recover, keeping on top of things like hydration, using my stretch bands, foam rolling etc, definitely helping keeping me healthy. And on top of everything, the house move is in full swing! Nearly packed up now and only 1 more week to go till I move in with my gorgeous girl and bestie 🥰 her support has been amazing throughout my training block xx

Another late post 😆, life is getting very busy at the moment, marathon training, house moving, but that’s another week of training completed, and I seem to be heathy and injury free ( touch wood !)

The week starts as usual with the long run which was 21 miles this week, 14 at 7 min pace then 7 at 6:50 pace ( marathon pace) today was gonna be a race prep day, so I practiced my race day breakfast, a bagel, jam, and banana 🍌, an electrolyte drink and coffee. Just before I headed out the door I had a high 5 gel, and I took 4 more gels with me, which I planned to take every 30 mins. The weather wasn’t the greatest today, the wind was very strong, but I was up for this run. The course was an out n back route. The first half of the run I was hovering around the 7 min pace, but the wind was battering me, but I seemed to keep pace okay, I looped round at the 10.5 mile point and headed back, at mile 14 picked up the pace to 6:50 pace, still feeling good but holding the pace in these conditions was challenging, I thought by doing a out n back course I would get some reprieve on the way back, but it was more cross and head winds. The gels seemed to go down well and no issues with them setting which is great. I managed to complete the run but I felt battered, the weather conditions in this marathon block have been the biggest challenge so far. The pace was hard to keep on top of today, but looked at it as more an effort based run, miles banked and a solid effort..

Mid week long run was 14 miles at 6:55 pace ( so around MP) I managed to tick this one off at the pace I wanted, and even managed a last mile split of 6:38, just to see if I could kick on , on tired legs.

Session for this week was 10 x 1k. And weekly volume of 90 miles. Another week banked, keeping the rest of the weekly runs at a easy pace effort.

Getting ever closer to the house move, only another week to go before I move in with my girl, new running routes to explore, and new adventures to have together. 95 miles on the cards next week. Let’s see if I can make it out the other side in one piece 😆

A bit late posting the week’s roundup of training, but life is turning very busy at the moment, me and Anna have decided to move in together, so in the middle of a house move as well as marathon training! Not the best of timing but we’ve found a perfect family home.

So the weeks training kicked off with a recovery run, not my usual Monday long run which I was so grateful for 😆 as my legs were still pretty sore from the Half Marathon, legs were certainly wobbly on the run, which I decided run on the treadmill to lessen impact. The rest of the week was structured with easy runs , a mid week 18 mile long run at marathon pace, which felt pretty good. The session for the week was 3×2 miles off 2 mins with 6x60sec to finish, by the time I was doing this session legs were back to feeling really good, just shows the importance of rest and recovery after a big race, listening to your body and if you need to easy run then that’s fine, there was sometimes early part of the week where I was just shuffling 😆 but it definitely help shake out any stiffness. Volume for the week was a aim for high 80’s so it was 87.

Already in week 8 so I shall review the week’s training asap 😉 in between all the packing that is 😆

Bit of a late race report, but sadly life gets in the way sometimes, it’s been a tiring week of training and getting back into the rhythm of things.

The morning of the race came, and I felt pretty calm about things, it was a 10am start so not to early, I laid out my kit the night before like usual, so woke, kit on and headed down to breakfast which was my usual race day breakfast, porridge, coffee and a banana. I headed out about 8ish as it was about an hour’s drive and I had to drop my eldest boy to my parents on the way. Arrived at the race Hq car park, wasn’t too busy, headed straight for the loo’s 😆 and went to collect my number, meet a couple of club members there to Steve and Becky which was lovely catching up with them. I did my warm up with Steve as we checked out the course and weather conditions were great. The course was 4.5 loops of a lake, there was a 10k and 5k on the day to, the Half was setting off first.

One last look at my phone and stripped my warm up gear off, I notice my girlfriend sent me a good luck video message which was amazing 🥲 to hear xx

10 o clock comes we’ve lined up on the start, I was on the 2nd row. Gun goes off and off we go, the field soon thins and there’s a guy who quickly takes the lead and has set out with intent, within the first loop and very early on I quickly find myself in a group of 4 guys behind the leader, Steve being one of them, we was settling into a pace, that was a little quicker than I wanted but I went with it, as today I wanted to really test myself over the half distance.

The pace was sub 80 mins, as we got into the 2nd mile me and another guy took the pace over from Steve and this other runner, we held that over the next mile, Steve decided to push on and the group broke, and another guy dropped off the back of the group, which left me in 4th place tailing another guy who was in the group. I settled into a new pace of around 6:15 -6:20 min miles, and seemed to get a good rhythm going, 2 loops checked off and still feeling strong and still in 4th, the leader couldn’t even see him anymore 😆 but I was still in striking distance for 3rd.

Midway through the 3rd lap I hear fast feet coming from behind!! I thought “ could this be the leader “!! Surly not, ? My pace was still good, but positions 5&6th came past together! Nooo ! Obviously they paced the race better than me and worked there way past me and the next guy ! I couldn’t respond and latch onto them, so just had to think about my own race and getting through the last lap. As the last lap started so did the 10k and 5k races, so the route was now congested! So going around the first bend I was really zigzagging around people sadly but it soon thinned again, now it was just dig in deep and finish strong..

And that is what I did, I held on and came in 6th place, 2nd in age cat (40-45) and a 4 min PB, 1h22, I was so so happy with that result, probably one of the best races I’ve had..

Big thank you’s to my girlfriend Anna and my coach Gary for there amazing support..

So my week started with a long run of 16 miles at Marathon pace, the weeks volume was toned down a bit due to racing the coming Sunday, so there would be no mid week long run. So the 16 miles I did on Monday i decided to do a looped course, which was 3 loops of 5 & 1/4 miles, I soon found my rhythm and got into my pace, I took 2 gels with me on the run and I planned to take them at the end of each loop. Weather was perfect on the day which made a change normally it’s been blowing a gale every time I’ve marathon paced work 😆. Hit my target pace no problem after my first loop, took my gel ( which was from High 5) and onto the 2nd loop, towards the end of this loop I took a tumble, sadly a person walking towards me wouldn’t step to one side so I stepped off the curb to go around them and as I came back into the curb my foot slipped and landed flat on my back,! Cut my knee and scuffed my hand! They did ask if I was okay, I jumped up and was on my way again, flicking the blood from my hand, which I hand to do most of the last loop, think the adrenaline carried me round that loop, but job done and happy with the result of the run…

My session I did on Wednesday which was 5x2k off 2min jog the 5min worth of 30sec on 30sec off. 2k times were pretty good, 7:12 7:20 7:11, 7:14, 7:13… The rest of the week was all easy running, a mixture of road runs and treadmill runs.The Half Marathon coming up in Nottingham on Sunday, was gonna be a good test of fitness to see where I am, I am setting out to really race this one, it’s a very flat course and 4.5 loops around a the water sports centre, that was one of the reasons I did a looped run on Monday..Weekly volume ended up around 74 miles ish.

So yeah a bit of basic week, everything going to plan so far, but for now eyes on Nottingham Half, check back here mid week to see a race report. 👍🏻😊

And that’s the end of week 5 ! God these weeks are flying by ! I have to say tho, that has been the toughest week so far in this block! The tiredness, the weather, the lack of motivation, but it did get better throughout the week and I’ve come through the other side….. Monday started with a 18 mile run at 7:30 pace, now bearing in mind this was the day after the 10k race in Leicester, my legs just would not respond, the race definitely took more out of me than I thought!! I felt tired, legs felt heavy and very sluggish, surprised me a bit, I tried to hit the pace but didn’t happen. I was wearing the Endorphin Pro 3’s and have to say they really didn’t do me any favours! They just hurt my feet, I can feel that carbon plate with most steps, very uncomfortable 🥴. So adding that into the equation, the run really wasn’t the greatest! But I finished the 18 and banked the miles, that’s the positive…

Double easy day the next day, legs started to feel better and took it easy, decided to run along the coast, get a change of scenery and some sea air, also pick up my new club kit to which was great 😊

Wednesday was 15 miles at Marathon pace 6:50, the weather, well the wind especially was awful today, so again i decided to do loops of the village to shelter myself from the winds, it sort of worked, but when I did hit head wind I knew about it, cause the wind funnel down the streets where it was head wind! But 3 loops of the village gave me 15 at marathon pace and job done.

Session day I did on the treadmill, which was 5x1mile then 5x1min all off 2 minutes jog recovery. This went well, better than I expected, nailed the paces I wanted. Body and mind started to feel much better by mid week, seem to got back on top of sleep, hydration and recovered from the race. Completed the weekly volume in 85 miles which was what I wanted.

Leading into another week, slightly changing things around next week, racing on the Sunday in Nottingham in a Half Marathon, let’s go get it 🏃🏼‍♂️🏃🏼‍♂️👊🏻💪🏻

January 29th, and my first race of 2023, going into this race I wasn’t sure what to expect from the race being deep in marathon training, but I felt in good shape so took the race as a pb opportunity. The morning of the race me and my girl (Anna) headed out from her house and made our way down to Leicester city to the start line, it was quite a fresh morning, but feeling good about the race and typical race nervous kicked in.

We both got our numbers from the collection point, and of course the usual toilet stop 🤭. Went off to do my usual warm up and drills. So started at the start and did just over a mile, a selection of drills and a handful of strides. Got into the starting area and looked around at the competition, the starting official ushered us to the start line, I was on the 2nd row, the wheelchair athletes went off first then the count down and we were off, the start was at a blistering fast pace ! I rained the pace in and kept myself in check as some of the guys went off way to quick, so I settled into a pace of 5:50 which was fine. Clipping along nicely, after the 2nd right hand bend I noticed this hill ! And thought “ are we going up that “ ! Thinking this was a flat course, anyway I worked up the hill and it levelled out and we took another right hand turn and low and behold there was another hill ! 😳 after getting to the top of this one I really had to switch my mine set from running a pb to just finishing and having a strong run. We then ran around the University and on approach to the Uni there was a pretty short and steep hill which really was a leg burner, going through the Uni we headed into Victoria Park, this was nice until the 180 degree bends kicked in ! Which just killed your pace, there was 2 or 3 of these bends around the park. Coming home into the last 3k was good cause it started coming back into the city and the last 1-2k was a slight downhill, the crowd support was building to, so at this point just gave everything I had left and got these little legs turning 😆, but the final right had turn came and I saw the finish line I kicked again and came home in 38:40, my 3rd fastest 10k of all time, 5th Vet 40 and 35 over all out of just over 800 entries.

Happy with the result especially on that course, and straight back into marathon training now.

These weeks seem to be flying by, so this week was a reduced mileage week due to racing on the Sunday. The week started off a 20 mile long run split, 13 @ 7min pace then 7 @ 6:50 pace, this was the first 20 mile run of the training block. For the I decided to do an out n back course, wore an other pair of Alphaflys, seeing as this was going to be my marathon shoe, and have to admit the run went pretty great, keeping disciplined and keeping that pace in the correct zones was tricky but it’s something that has to be done and teaches you not to go off to hard on race day, but ticking off my 20 miler and nailing it felt great. Luckily next day was a double run easy day, but wow the first run of the day was a 7 miler and I felt so stiff it was crazy, so pulled the pace right back and just shuffled along, I remember that day being incredibly cold 🥶 face and figures were numb ! Lucky I did feel better on the evening run, I jumped onto the treadmill on zwift and ticked over nicely over a 10k.

Wednesday mid week long run was 13 @ marathon pace, and again felt good, and was definitely warmer to, crazy weather ! No session this week due to race. So weekly mileage finished off at 77 miles.. Race day was at the Leicester 10k, I will do a race report on my day in the coming days so will talk about that experience in another blog, but marathon training is on going, eek 5 starts on Monday… 👍🏻

Well that brings to an end to a 90 mile week, forgotten how time consuming a 90 mile week was 😆 🥱. Week started with a 19 mile long run, split 13 at 7:05 pace and 6 at marathon pace 6:50. The route I took was a big loop took me through, a number of villages. The course was a little undulating and the weather certainly played its part again, head winds, cross winds, rain. But managed to hit pace targets tho, but I didn’t take any gels on the run and I was feeling it in the last 4 miles, I suppose that was inevitably gonna happen.

The next day was a double easy day, but the weather was certainly turning very cold again, I normally go for a walk most mornings just loosen up the legs, it was very slippery out, but took it very easy. Opted for the treadmill on one of the runs. Mid week long was again a treadmill run, it was just to slippery under foot, so zwift kept me motivated, 13 miles at 7 min pace was nailed. I did manage a group run on the Wednesday evening, with my beautiful girlfriend coming along to, the Heckington village run, it was nice just to get out and have company on a run. But sadly this cold snap was the trend for the week, my session for this week was 10x1k off 1 min jog. My little was with me from Friday so having to fit the last couple of runs around him to finish off the week. Figures crossed for better weather this week 🤞

Above is a few photos I took around the village, I suppose the thing about this time of year is that it makes the landscape so picturesque ☺️

Mileage coming down next week due to racing, my first race in this marathon block, Leicester 10k on Sunday, my girl is also competing, should be fun, another race together 🥰. No session this coming week either.

Should have posted this a couple of weeks ago, but sadly life gets in the way sometimes, but I’m finding myself with a little time on my hands this afternoon, so here’s my thoughts on my ‘Go To’ shoe of 2022.

The On Cloud Monster !!!

This shoe for me has surprised me the most, now I’ve ran in On before and I’ve just not got on with the shoe company, found them way to firm, no energy return, and the durability was terrible! However, this came along, and wow ! The shoe just keeps on giving, I’ve logged over 450 miles in this now, long runs, easy runs and stead ish runs, for me the shoe felt so light underfoot, it felt bouncy, but not zoom x squishy, it had the right amount of firmness, there is a plate in the shoe which isn’t to ridged. Taking this shoe on a long easy run felt great. The shoe has got over 450 miles in it and I’ll see how many more I can get out of it. Would I buy this again ? 100%, yes.. the shoe just worked for me and my biomechanics…