Achievements to date

I use the micoach app on iPhone, which handily records performance, distance, calories etc. I've used it since last June I think.

I use it 90% of the time (not on events or wet runs so this data is not exact but impressive all the same...

Time running - 45 hrs. 10 minutes 40 secs
Distance - 282.03 miles
Calories - 40844

The first signs of spring (nearly)

The first sunlight of the year looked likely today but decided to hide away before I got out for a run. So once again, it  was freezing.

1k on the green lanes,

1k on the roads through Totternhoe,

1k of woodland running parallel to Tring Road (see below)

top of the downs after hillclimb

After the woodland I crossed to the Downs and proceeded with the hills session. Very steep and slippy again. The sky looked like polished marble, grey and white from horizon to horizon. Looking back down the hills I'd just beasted gave a sense of satisfaction. The short break of sublght that came through the clouds afterwards was even better.

A fast run back to civilisation followed. Good pace at 7 minute miles down the hills back home.

Total distance was four and a half miles, total climb 440ft.

A good weekend, no major distance covered but god runs all the same. Lots of hill work and uneven surface so leg strength and stability is improving, but if I do decide to do the mkhalf in six weeks I need to start thinking about doing some distance.

Is that the sun out??????

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday 29/01/11

After a loooong week at work I was desperate to run today, but a hideous circuit session on Thursday left me with abs (ab in my case?) that were killing.

Jake got me up early for some ps3 so I got out at 11am. I knew it was cold but was shocked at how bloody cold. Puddles were frozen and the mud was rock hard.
Did a three miler along Tring road, through Totternhoe and back up the hill.
A short run but good pace and quite hilly. Hoping for fairer weather soon. I like to run outside but it is freezing!!!!! Route took 25 minutes flat.
Good news for the week as I return to pre-Xmas trousers. Weigh in yesterday was 13/5. Aiming for 3 lbs wright loss this next week.

Speed session

A short run last night but a good one.
Got in from work, it was dark, wet and cold but before dinner I got changed, warmed up and dragged my arse out on a fast three-miler.
I set a good pace to start with, struggled a little at the two mile mark but dug in for the last stretch and managed a 22.07.
Averages out at just over 7min 20sec/mile which is a good pace and somewhere to start for the two 5-mile runs I'm planning to run this year.
No pictures today and no music. I can't take my iPhone out in the rain!!!!

50 minute run over some crazy hills and very muddy today.
It started well up until my path was blocked....



After I got past the angry sheep, I got a chance to look back at the path I'd just taken. In the picture below, I'd run along the very crest of the hill you can see. Where it drops down at the end (left of the picture) is the first hill I'd met today.

But what goes up....

....must come down. The sign didn't bode well for what was to come. And after much slipping, arm waving and accidental man screams I made it to the bottom of the 300 foot descent.

The trail back home was muddy to say the least.

Over all a great run.

Weight loss so far is -6lbs in a week. A combination of diet and exercise but still happy with the result.

This was a 4.93 mile trail run, very hilly and muddy.

727 calories and 52 minutes giving pace of 10.37 min/miles.

Not fast but notbad considering the terrain.

Earlier long run this week had a good pace of 8.28 min/miles on the road, so getting back to PB pace.

For anyone starting running or looking to improve endurance (and with an iPhone) check out Adidas MiCoach. I used it to record my run today.
8 miles
1158 calories
Average pace of 8.28 min/miles was slow but a few sub 8 minute miles in there felt good.
Crap weather though and a mixture of main and side roads. Windy and wet.

Planned runs for this year.

So excited to get email today from dirtrunners (http://www.dirtrunners.co.uk/) for two more trail runs this year and both local. Shuttleworth in May and Ashridge in November. Both short at 5 miles but trail running and good off road sections. Come pay day I will be signing up for both and trying to get my brother to do them too!!!

Only other consideration is the MKhalf in March. A friend of mine has offered me a transferred place as she can't run. It would be rude not to accept it.

That gives me 8 weeks to get my distance back up to 13+ miles.

Late pic of my winter run.

Testing the eblogger facility.

Hardcore hill session.

Short but sweet tonight.
500 calories, 4 miles 32 minutes.
Hideous hills and plyometric session which left me dirty sweaty and knackered. But glad I went out.
Diet went well and wii scales are much nicer to me than those I used on Saturday. They showed me at 13st 9lbs on sunday.
Checked again today and minus 2 lbs already.

You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.

Bad start.

I'm not sure how this happened but my weight has shot up to 14 stone 1 lb!!!

This is a lot more than I thought I would be and spurred me into a run this afternoon.

42 minutes, 4.74 miles, 681 calories and an average pace of 8:51 min/miles

My speed hasn't dropped off but I need to shift some serious weight and quick.

2011 ===> The way forward (but 15 days late)

After the last run and with Christmas coming and work getting manic the training tailed off a bit.

I haven't lost the holiday weight I was hoping to despite some good distance runs, on and off-road over the Christmas period and with no events coming up I'm finding it hard to get motivated and get out.

So I decided to keep a journal, in blog format of my running this year. The events I do, the charities I hope to run for. My achievements and weight loss and my targets as the year goes on.

If it gets followed great. If it makes someone else want to run excellent. And if it helps anyone who runs realise they are not alone in finding it really difficult to keep going I'll be very pleased.

2011 is a long year (well they all are) and I have alot of running to do.

Thanks for reading and please, please hold me to account. When I say I'm going for a run, make sure I do!!

The rest of the year was a blur!!!

After Joe's performance at the London Marathon I went on to do two more events without him.

First was the NorthFace 10k http://www.blackstrailrun.co.uk/ . My first trail run event over the Downs in Dunstable. All of a sudden the running made sense, I was faster than a lot of people and it was off road and muddy and cold. Trail running was the way forward for me.

 Supported by friends and family, the route (below) covered 10 k of hills, descents, mud and track.

I was proud to put in a time of:

(at last, a half decent running picture!!)

The actual time was ten seconds faster as measured by my tag. I came in the top 20 per cent and loved every minute.

Trail running lead onto an off road half marathon in November.

The Leighton Buzzard half marathon http://www.dirtrunning.co.uk/ trail run took me 1hour 48 minutes and 1 second. It was gruelling. Hills that went on forever, across fields that were waterlogged and laong five miles of canal towpath either end of the dirty stuff.

As I reached the end, legs burning, lungs aching and massively dehydrated, I realised two things.

One, I am mad.

Two, running makes me insanely happy.

(and Three, I like shiny medals.)

What next?

Next thing I know I'm running. A lot.

Four times a week I voluntarily put trainers on and get out in the sun and rain to run. I wasn't sure what I was doing, everyone has an opinion on running. What to eat/run, when to eat/run, training sessions, rest days, trainer types; the list is endless. But I was enjoying it so when a second half-marathon came up neaby I jumped at the chance.

Training continued into June and I ran the NSPCC Half Marathon. A different (and harder) route than the last one, my time had dropped by five minutes in a few months.

Again, Joe and I ran the same event, which was great.

I've always looked up to my older brother as one of my heroes, I think most little brothers do, but as well as training for a marathon and doing "halfs" easily, Joe was getting more and more people into running.

Last year's achievements.

Last year I started running.

That's not to say I haven't run before.

I ran away from my brother when I was younger, I ran the pub as I got older and I ran to get fit enough to join the police when I was 20. But up until last year running was a chore I did to allow me to eat/drink what I wanted.

So what changed?

Firstly, my brother Joe signed up for the London Marathon 2010. A guy, who as far as I knew had never run, was doing something amazing and going for 26.2 miles with less than a year to go. Along the way, he raised a shedload of money for a great charity and inspired me and others to run.

Secondly, I realised that I wasn't doing enough exercise to keep up with
a) my kids and
b) my diet.

So when Joe asked me to run in a half Marathon in March 2010 which he was doing as a trainng event I figured it would be a good idea.

(not a great picture but seriously I was nervous as hell!)



 So in March, Joe, a few of his friends and I met in MK and did the mk half and to say I was bitten by the bug is an understatement.