Early Bird

As mentioned last week, I’ve switched my easy runs to the morning wherever possible. In the past, I’ve had a tendency to see “45min recovery run” in my plan and blast round the parks at warp speed after work. This is neither sensible nor helping my running in the long term. By switching the run to the morning, I’m allowing extra recovery time before the next key session and also freeing up at least two evenings a week, as well as making sure the pace is correct  (there’s no way I’m blasting anything first thing in the morning). 

 A down side is that on weeks where I have double-run days, I’m getting up at 6am at least four mornings a week, but in reality that’s only 30mins earlier than usual. Not the end of the world

To suddenly have free evenings without running is very strange but most welcome. You sit on the couch thinking “there’s something I should be doing”. I like it so far, although I’m very conscious that this is easiest time of year to do it. The weather is warming up, the mornings are light and the conditions generally pleasant. Project forward six months when it’s pitch-dark, bitterly cold and rubbish, it’s going to be a bit more of a challenge. But we’ll come to that in due course. Hopefully by then it will be a habit.

So do you run with the Lark? Or does the thought fill you with dread and horror?

 
 I can recommend it, it is a big change from what I’m used to, but its serving me well. I’ve got a night off tonight, might go out for dinner. Fancy that.

Small Steps

You find me in a buoyant mood, dear reader.

The period of reflection I went through after VLM has come to an end. The weather is slowly but surely improving and my lungs are being busted on the speed-work sessions associated with the summer months. I love speed work.

When thinking about the rights and wrongs of London, I realised that there were a lot of things I could have done better. If Nick my coach is doing everything in his power to get me to the start line in good shape, it had to be said that I didn’t feel I was keeping up my end of the bargain.

Rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, rather than a ‘Big Bang’ of changes, I just tweaked my daily routine in subtle ways and have found I’m getting results already. Here’s how:

- Less Wine – I know, it kills me to admit it, but I was drinking too much wine, and there are A LOT of calories in wine. Someone once described to me that every large glass is the equivalent of eating a doughnut. I’ve had a lot of Doughnuts over the last few months. I’ve swapped (most but not all) the wine for Lime and Soda Water and the odd single glass of my favourite peaty Islay single malt instead. It’s nice to have one glass of that and savour it than down a bottle of red between us and think “where did that go?”

- Morning Runs –I’ve been very guilty of looking at the easy morning runs in my plan and doing them in the evening. I know full well the purpose of doing them before breakfast is to get the body more efficient at burning fat. This came back to haunt me in London so now there are no excuses. Up with the lark, quick cup of coffee and out I go. By switching easy days to the morning, I’m also getting an extra 12 hours recovery before the key session the next day. Good job all round.

- Running easy, on Grass – I find it so hard to run easy, but you don’t need to be winning Gold Medals on every run. I need to slow down man! - “Make the easy sessions easy so the hard sessions are hard”. By switching my easy runs onto the grass, I’ve started using previously unused muscles, brought control back into my running  and slowed down to a good pace for easy running. Also I thinking about the lower impact on my joints.

- 5-a-Day keeps the Physio away – I was not eating enough fruit and veg – in the rush to eat carbs I was loading up on rice and pasta (white), neglecting the vitamins and minerals from fruit and veg. So I make a conscious effort to by Wholemeal and  get the 5 F&V in – it makes your cooking a lot more interesting as well. Watching Secret Eaters over the last ew weeks has given me a few home truths about how I fuel my body to excess and lesson have been learnt.

- Down to the core – I’ve been very lazy at doing my core and strength work. I’m not where I want to be, but I’ve made a start by joining the #plankchallenge and #plankaday crew on Twitter. It’s easy to fit in a couple of minutes in your day to do a Plank and anything is better than doing nothing. Eventually it will become a habit and I can progress it further.

These are all little changes, but already I’m feeling better after a couple of weeks and so hopefully over the summer and beyond can start reaping the rewards. None of the things above take more than a couple of minutes of extra thought a day.

What little changes could you make to make yourself feel and train better?

Trot On

Apologies for the slightly protracted silence. To be honest, I’ve struggled to mentally process the events of London. Whilst being happy with a 30 minute PB, the fact I didn’t get my intended goal of 3:15 hit me harder than it should have.  There we’re lots of reasons but the whole thing could probably be summed as “great day, terrible race”.

 I‘m not here to dwell on that. These races come and go, the only thing you can really do is work out what went well, what went wrong and what you can do to improve for next time. Anyway, there’s a summer of speed work before the preparations begin for the Autumn. Yes, I’ve signed up for another Marathon. Favourite of my coach Nick, Steve and myself will be having a little European jaunt to Frankfurt at the end of October. I’m quite looking forward to it actually. There’s a little group of us going who I think are of roughly a similar speed. That will help motivation if nothing else. Should be a good night afterwards as well :D But I’m not going just for that!

This week has also marked a welcome return to normal training patterns, newly kitted out in shiny white and correctly-sized shoes. I’ve noticed a marked improvement in the foot trouble I’ve been having for the last few weeks. I think it’s going to be a long process to rid myself completely of pain, but I’m definitely heading in the right direction.

I’ve had a couple of really good sessions already this week. The 5x5mins, 90sec recovery threshold session on Tuesday was a proper baptism of fire! The heat was already on with the car temperature reading 23 degrees! I worked hard at that session, but also made an effort to keep my concentration on the job at hand. Believe me, I can find it quite hard at times. I made a pact with myself that even if the reps were getting really tough I wasn’t going to let it beat me and would dig in. I just wanted to know that when the question was being asked “Can I do this?” I would be able to answer emphatically on my own terms “Yes, carry on”. Yes, it’s going to hurt but I’m better than the hurt. Trot On. 

If I can get that right at Frankfurt – I’ll achieve my goals

Have been pleased with the speed in my legs after all that marathon training. It’s going to be a good summer.

I correct myself.

I’m going to make it a good summer.

Your Loving Arms - VLM 2013

No this isn’t an excuse to play a Youtube clip of that classic mid-90s banger from Billie Ray Martin, it's some of my thoughts on the last couple of days.

So, on Sunday I ran a Marathon. I ran it quicker than I had run a Marathon before, but not quite as quick as I’d expected to.

But the race report can wait for another time.

Sunday needed to happen. Sunday had to happen. Londonhad to show the world that there is a way forward, out of the darkness. As runners, we were running for the entire city, maybe for the entire running world. We weren’t going to be cowed, we weren’t going to be beaten. Each footfall was the sound of a runner shouting “You don’t win. We do".

On Sunday, London wrapped it’s Loving Arms around the running world and said “Don’t worry, we’ll all be okay.” It roared like a Lion alongside the crowd along the Embankment. It comforted the lost and despairing and said “You’ll get there, hold on.”

There were Loving Arms clapping at the start, in support of all those affected by the events in Boston. The same arms that had pinned Black Ribbons to their running outfit, and possibly wiped away tears of sadness in the preceding days.

There were the Loving Arms of family and friends who let out massive cheers as I went by in various states of focus or distress.

There were the Loving Arms of a runner, Nev, who put his arm around me at mile 19 when I was starting to think it was all over and said “stick in there, I know what it’s like, you can do this”.

There were the Loving Arms of my coaches at mile 20 who could see the battle I was having and allowed me fight them on my own terms.

There were the Loving Arms of the RunDemCrew Cheering Station where I guy shouted my name with such passion it spurred me on for a further mile.

There were the Loving Arms of the lady who took my hand in Parliament Square and ran the penultimate 800m together.

Finally, there was the Loving Arm of the guy on the baggage truck who insisted on shaking my hand and said “thank you so much for running today”

London, I Love You Back.

Reader, I Ran

The images were so shocking, so horrific my brain almost couldn’t comprehend what they were seeing.

In a sign of the age, the first anyone heard about it was on Twitter. As I scrambled round the news agencies, trying to find more information – BBC – Nothing, AP – Nothing, Reuters – Nothing. It must have been a good fifteen minutes before the breaking news tickers spring into life indicating that something was amiss. By this time the photos were everywhere. Horrible, ghastly images of blood splattered pavements and people lying injured in the immediate aftermath of the explosions.

The Twitter running community sprang into life, checking that friends and relatives were okay. One of the odd things about Twitter is that you get used to hearing about the day-to-day of people’s lives. Therefore, when something like this happens you genuinely care that everyone you ‘interact’ with is okay, even if you haven’t met in ‘real life’. Slowly but surely, runners were checking in as safe, with sighs of relief all round.

Over the next few hours the situation unfolded, the reports of casualties filtered through and the community took each other hand-in-hand to get through this.

How could they? How could anyone justify an act like that? As many have said, the finish line of a Marathon is a place of joy, celebration and most importantly love. Anyone who has completed 26.2 miles can attest to the fact that to run a marathon is to be surrounded by a bubble of love the whole time – be it fellow runners or spectators.

Someone tried to shatter that love yesterday, but they will not win. It is times like this that draw a community together, and you can be we will come together.

Being thousands of miles away, I thought to myself “What can I do to help?” so I did the only thing I could do. I carried on. Today, I put on my trainers, my calf guards, shorts and club vest and I ran. I ran a short 30min interval session before VLM on Sunday.

I ran three threshold intervals.

I ran for those three people who tragically lost their lives.

I ran for all those that sustained injuries

I ran for everyone who helped at the scene.

I ran for everyone who has ever tried.

Because we are runners.

Reader, I ran.

I didn’t know what else to do.

Shoe Review - Mizuno Wave Rider 16

Ooh, whats in the box?

The fact that the Wave Rider shoe is on its 16^th incarnation tells you that it is a popular shoe. Sure, Mizuno haven’t always got it right (Just Google “Wave Rider 14” for a barrage of internet vitriol) but it’s an ‘ever-present’ shoe that the running community care about. I’ve been running in Wave Riders for a few years, starting with the 13, and always found them solid, dependable and a bit…well...boring. I ran well in the 15s during 2012, but they didn’t excite me. I used the Brooks Launch for speed and races, they were the brylcreem boys of my shoe collection. The Wave Riders were the dour house-wife/house-husband, ready with dinner on the table when I got home. Other manufacturers would bring out shiny running shoes to make you gasp and yearn (Adidas Bostons and definitely you Saucony Kinvara) whilst the Wave Rider carried on as it always did. White, boxy and no frills.

Temptation led me elsewhere, shoe adultery if you like. I would plead with running shop owners to show me alternatives for a light, neutral shoe that could handle high miles. I would often get a puzzled look as the shop owner would shift awkwardly from side-to-side “Well the Wave Rider is a very light shoe...” It was like there was a conspiracy to keep me in these foot coffins.

I ignored their advice and flirted with lower heel drops (see my review of the Saucony Mirage 2 here) and different brands, but a bout of Achilles Trouble and a mountain of shoes that appeared in the house led me to rethink.

So I decided to go back to the Wave Rider for my VLM training. Only, by now, the 15 had been replaced with the 16. Despite the reasonable large heel, this was the shoe I’d been searching for. Sleek, light and in a fantastic “Fuck You Competition” colour.

 

Please note - shoes may not actually levitate (they are light though)

There are styles of running shoe that require a certain amount of confidence to wear.  Stepping out in a garish pair of Adidas Boston 3s, Adizero (or possibly even my old, beloved, Brooks Launch) says “I feel the need, the need for speed” before standing to attention, chopping one off and shooting off into the sunset aboard a Harley Davidson.

Mizuno appear to have taken heed of this when giving the Updated Wave Rider 16 a paint job, producing a vision in yellow. You can’t be timid in these trainers, there’s no hiding at the back of the pack .You need to #gohardorgohome.

Mizuno have gone back to the drawing board and designed it from first principles. The Upper is sleek and considerably lighter, and tellingly, the whole shoe is now in the same weight category as the Boston 3s. This is one light shoe, without all the bollocks that goes with barefoot running (No I’m not convinced).

I’ll say it now - I’m in love with this shoe.

Whatever you throw at it, it handles with comfort and ease - Hills, Speed-work, Tempo Runs, Long Runs - the works. I’m a mid-foot striker and was worried that the chunky heel would feel like it was holding me back, But each session felt like putting on your best racing shoes with the safety net of a bit of cushioning.

The fit is snug without being Adidas-tight and the toe-box was definitely roomier than I expected. I worried that I’d got a size too big but a couple of runs later and I didn’t even notice it. 550 miles later and it's finally time to replace with a new pair. I think that's good going for a lighter shoe.

The one criticism I do have with the Wave Rider is that the gap in the sole can get clogged up with stones when you go off-road, but living in Liverpool that doesn’t happen very often!

If you are looking for an all-round shoe that means you won’t need to shell out on five different pairs you can’t go far wrong with the Wave Rider 16. I’m a firm convert and will be sticking with it after VLM, even in the face of the bright lights of the much-hyped Adidas Boost and impending Kinvara 4.

I’m excited to see what Mizuno choose to do with the Wave Rider 17. If it’s to give it an 8mm heel-to-toe drop, I might just have found the perfect shoe.

 

The Rules of the Road

Today marks the end of Week 52 since I started with my coach, Nick Anderson. It's been a wonderful ride so far with massive PBs at all distances and the promise of more to come. I still feel like I'm just starting out.

To celebrate the event, here are a few lessons I've learnt in the last twelve months. My "Rules of the Road" if you like.

Feel free to add some more in the comments!

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- A 2:30 HM runner will dream about a sub 2, a 2:00 HM will dream about a sub-1:45, a 1:45 runner will dream about a sub-1:30 and him, he’s eyeing 1:20 enviously. You’ll never be satisfied, it’s a moving target.

- Trainers don’t make you fast, Training makes you fast.

- Mental Training is as important as Physical Training

- You may think you know better, but your coach is a coach for a reason.

- Don’t be afraid to say “Things aren’t right”, gut feeling is often correct.

- You should race the runner you know you’re capable of being, not the runner you were.

- Sometimes you need to stop and admire the view. It’s a long road you’ve travelled, and a huge climb up the mountain you’ve already made.

- Training Sessions are your chance to prove your abilities to yourself, relish the challenge every time. It makes training much more enjoyable.

- There’s far too much running information sprawled over the internet and a lack of effective filters. Use your head when deciding what may work for you.

- If someone compliments you on a recent race time, if they are faster than you or not TAKE THE FUCKING COMPLIMENT.

- You know that race photo where you look like a bag of shit? That’s the Core and Strength work you are not doing.

I've learnt a hell of a lot in the last year, I can't wait for the next twelve months.