Back to basics (and conisdering the next step)

After several days of rest, I've ventured out for a couple of short runs and I'm happy to report that my knee seems to be holding up. There was some tightness for sure and I stopped a couple of times to stretch it out, but overall it felt great.

The new shoes are working well (full review to follow) and in keeping with the minimalist theme I went out without music on this run. It may sound a little corny but I felt much more focused on my running style and barefoot form than when I'm plugged in. I still took the iPhone with me, but maybe the minimalist running thing has something to offer.

I certainly appreciated the scenery around me more and was more aware of the environment I was running through, rather than just focusing on the tunes. It also helped to keep the increased cadence needed for the barefoot style (about 180p/m).

Having given up on the Eden dream for now I've started to reassess what I want to achieve. I'm excited about the ten k coming up in October and have hopes for a London (VLM) marathon placing next year, but I'm starting to think beyond that, and perhaps further than I ever have before. I've been in contact with some amazing people recently, who have achieved truly amazing feats. Following the progress of @rungeordierun as he ran

3100 miles across the states, the ongoing mission of @100mara100weeks and @dryingout among others really inspires me to consider what I could achieve, and makes me believe that I could achieve them.

It is people like these who remind us that we are all capable of so much more than we dare to dream.

If you aim to reach the stars you may on l reach the top of the tree. But if you aim for the top of the tree, you may barely leave the ground.

Every day's a school day....

I mentioned in a previous blog, that I believe you can learn something every time you go out running. It turns out this is never more true than when you are pushing the boundaries of what you can do.

As training for the Eden Project Marathon gets underway, I've notched up 35.44 miles this week, A mixture of trails and intervals, on minimalist and conventional running shoes.

The minimalist session was my longest one on five-fingers yet. An hour in these minimalist shoes, left my calf's in knots on Thursday and my 45 minute short run yesterday was exactly the cure I needed. That "short" run was a warm up to the main event which I did this morning.

MiCoach was insisting that I increase mileage to get marathon ready and so I headed out at 8am to  do 2hours and 30 minutes on the road. Fortunately, the weather was good, great in fact, and in the allotted time I completed 16.5 miles.

This is great because
A) it's the furthest I have ever run, and
B) it's the longest time I've ever spent running.

A summary of stats showing the crazy increase between last week and this week.


And while I'm happy with this, running this sort of distance/time made me try new things and as I said at the start every day is a school day.

I tried carb-loading for the first time yesterday, I'm still not eating much sugar or starchy stuff so an evening of pasta and popcorn left me buzzing with energy this morning and allowed me to complete the run on little supplements (a couple of SiS gels).

I started hydrating on Friday. Regular drinking rather than when I was thirsty meant that I never felt that parched today and if truth be told, could have gone further.

Thirdly, knowing I'd get bored of music after a while I started on an audio book instead. This was a gamble as I love ,music to run to, but boy did it pay off. On a boring road session like this one, the story kept the mind entertained and let the legs get on with running. The miles literally flew by.

This week will see the donation page for Great Ormond Street set up and then I can really start publicising the run in October. Until then it's business as usual.

Me.

The road.

The biggest challenge yet....

Eden 2011

Going back to where it all began.

Reading through a magazine on Friday I was met by a full page advert showing two of my favourite things.

 Running and Pasties.

The Eden Project in Cornwall is celebrating it's 10th Birthday and it's 3rd marathon. I've said I fancied a challenge and I think this is it.

I have twelve weeks to do two things...

1) increase my distance (current maximum is 13+ miles, need to run 26.2!!!

2) lose a bit more weight to make sure I have the strength, stamina and energy to complete it.

The run is trail based, mixed terrain and based on old mining land, it looks beautiful and will be my first marathon, which I'm told is a pretty big thing.

www.edenproject.com/Eden-Project-Marathon-2011.php

So training started this weekend clocking up just over 16 miles over two runs, the longer run was on the Sunday and came in at 10.6 miles.

http://www.adidas.com/com/micoach/WorkoutDetails.aspx?WID=485aeeee-fd29-4e1b-bd36-123ad951b07b

My weight has plateaud at just under 12 stone. Thats over two stone lost in six months, I reckon 11st8lb should be a good marathon weight and keep pressure off my joints.

Planning and training has commenced, on October 9th I go to Eden, where it all began.