Training still not up and running

2 weeks into the new year and I cannot get excited by marathon training, sure I wore my 26.2 (www.marathontalk.com) technical t-shirt at this weeks parkrun but still my mojo ain't there.

I did have a great run with Rob Titherington at parkrun this week, I could just hold onto a conversational pace in spite of the playful rebukes from Jason Chapman and Andrew Berkley! I did remind them that parkrun is not a race... But still when Robert and I caught young Jonathan Healy at the last corner we picked our pace up, my legs would not carry my enthusiasm. Rob stole eleventh and I settled for 13th... Central governor in hiding!

13th was prevalent as on Friday I was flying back from London on the 3 o'clock shuttle, I am not superstitious except about re-tying my shoelaces before a race, but I did feel a trifle bit hesitant boarding the plane! 

The good news was my pace around parkrun was very steady and I had no pain in the knee or calves, finishing in 23:06 felt good for a change. 

I have been amazed with the tacx flow turbo trainer, my pre conception was that it would be like a treadmill... utterly dull and far too easy to just stop when it gets a bit hard. OK so it's shiny and new but it felt great and I can appreciate that most people I have spoken can manage 30-40 mins on a turbo trainer before having to get off.

For me though it means I can get fit, strengthen my legs and glutes without hitting the tarmac and braving the weather. I have a pretty good set-up with a fan to keep cool and my iPad loaded with movies and music so grinding the miles without leaving the house is cool. I can also work on my "Changing gears" routine, there nought like looking to see what gear your in and realising your waving over the road!!!

So treadmills, turbo trainer and pockets of road running not on a par with last years London marathon training but I am a realist and want to just enjoy the marathon, training and all. I hope to build up over the summer and rock an Autumn marathon.

Now I have been challenged by a fellow parkrunner Nephi Alty in Jantastic I have to step up to the plate for sure :)

Have a good running week one and all (How are those New Year resolutions working out for ya?)

 

Mark Kelly

A mixed year but ending well

I had a great result even though injured at this years Virgin London Marathon 3:09:08 was just inside the good for age requirement for the VLM  2012. I picked up a calf injury just before which was aggravated on the marathon, then chest problems in the summer meant I had to rest for the next few months.

A knee problem kept me off the pavements and I decided to start cycling to get some fitness back, recent physio has cleared the problem (ITB is tight so judicious stretching regime now in place).

My goal now is to get fit and complete the VLM 2012 in a reasonable time, also to have a crack at some cycling time trials and hopefully a sprint triathlon in the spring.

I took part in the Stockport boxing day 5K and managed a 23:01 which spookily takes me back to my first 5k in recent years at the inaugural Heaton parkrun in June 2009. Back then I was a bit heavier but in a similar fitness state and managed a 23:00, so it tells me there is much work to do!

I did enjoy racing again though and had second thoughts about doing the hot toddy, the picture above was taken by Rachel Chapman and captures my mood perfectly...

On my Birthday (and anniversary to the wonderful Mrs Kelly!) we went shopping, Clare for an eternity ring and me... New running shoes. It was good to see Rick at Sweatshop again and putting a pair of Brooks Adrenalines felt like seeing old friends, I also picked up a pair of ASIC 2170's which will be reserved for distance training and races.

Wednesday I did a gym session for the first time in some time, I had a tough time on the treadmill, for the next couple of weeks I am going to attempt 5k at each running session. The first mile saw a mild ache in the left calf, the new trainers felt good but my chest was aching. The problem with treadmill's are it is too easy just to stop, so when I hit 2 miles it was getting too much I wanted to give up, instead I upped the speed and made the 3.1 in 26.21 so not a bad effort.

Next I tried the "Glute machine" but man are my glutes so weak! I figured not to do too much on my first trip back into the gym, a quick swim later and I was done!

Back into the gym on Thursday as the weather was seriously bad, another 5k on the treadmill and we have resurrected the Wii fit balance board as it acts as a great motivator for all the family!

On Friday I took to the roads on my bike, my goal is to increase my fitness whilst my legs get back to strength. I have fitted a garmin cadence device to the bike, on my first test before Christmas my average cadence was 66 which means I was turning the wheels 66 times a minute RPM) the aim is to average 90 and as I get fitter the speed will accompany the cadence.

Saturday saw the last Oldham parkrun of the year and 45 runners took part in pretty awful foggy wet weather, in 2012 we hope to grow the numbers back to the 75-100's again. Oldhams' micro-climate can often deter runners but it does not keep everyone away!

New Years Day went well as I put my Adidas Kanadias back on for the multi-terrain 'Joe Salts New Years Awakener'. Last year I managed 19th with 27 minutes and some change, this year, unfit and stuck for sections behind slower runners as the paths are narrow... 33:46 not a bad effort and I learned a lot about caring for my injuries. Remember before running I am to stretch my ITB, this is straight forward at the gym or at home, but as a stretch to be carried out lying down can be difficult to fulfil before a race. My calves were behaving today which I was please with but by mile two the left knee painful, I remembered my physio advice to slightly lift the knees  running and drop the pace. This I did for about half a mile and it worked  well, coming down the final hill my legs felt good and I turned on the sprint finish, nicking a place or three at the end!!! Andy O'Sullivan made a tanoy comment about my finish which is kind of embarrassing but everyone gets the same treatment.

So 2012 is here and my marathon training kicked off with a good effort, it tells me there is much work to be done to complete the VLM in a reasonable time. My true performance indicator I guess will be the Great North West half in February... Roll on the VLM

Have a great year everyone.

Mark Kelly 

East Hull 20

Well it's been a busy old week again the VLM is my focus now with just 4 weeks remaining. Mondays coaching went well 8 runners were put through their paces with 4 x 800's and just 4 minutes recovery. Last week they did 10 x 400 off 2 minutes recovery so the intention was to to push them a big longer!
My coaching diary was submitted this week and hopefully it is good enough for final assessment in April. It will be a busy month as my sister gets married, I get my cholesterol gets retested, my running coach test and of course the Virgin London Marathon!

At the track training on Tuesday I was practising marathon pace in Mile reps, running at a slower pace is a weird feeling. When on the track the natural instinct for me is to be running "eye-balls" out, but I must master running at my marathon pace. So I will be practising my goal pace of 7:00 minute miles at quite a few of my runs, doing it at the track makes it easier as I don't have to keep stopping for traffic lights and so on.
Although I averaged 7:02 for each mile the pace is not even enough, practice makes perfect!

After each run I download the GPS data from my Garmin forerunner 405, it uploads direct to Garmin Connect... then I import it into sporttracks,export from sporttracks to www.runsaturday.com, finally updating my training plan spreadsheet (rules my life!) Whilst reviewing my total mileage on runsaturday I spotted that the distance I have covered so far this year matches my entire 2009 effort!

Wednesday yet again failed to be a double run to work and back, the new payroll system still needs a helping hand. It always seems to be at 16:30 that a phone call is made and I "run" upstairs! The morning run had not been a great session so the day did not end on a high!

The Thursday group did very well again, this week doing 5 miles exactly at a good pace, next week will be their final training session before the Vera Hirst 5K on the 30th so things are looking very good for them.

A quick hill session on Friday saw the end of training for the week as I wanted a bit of recovery for Sundays 20 mile race. I was awake before the alarm rang out at 6:00am Sunday morning, my kit was all set out and I headed of to pick up Dave on route to Hull a mere 1 hour 40 trip away. We arrived at 9:00am and were just in time for a good parking spot 50 meters from race HQ! The race was limited to 400 and given the parking, toilet facilities and assembly area 400 is just the right number. They closed the road just before the start of the race and we were off, the first mile and half are on the main road but the marshalling was second to non and we were soon on a dis-used railway track on a seemingly flat course.
They bill the race as a great warm-up for London, flat and fast... which for the first 8 miles was certainly true, I chatted to a number of runners around the course and most were training for spring marathon (Notably London). There then appeared a couple of hills which thankfully did not last for long and it was the wind that played a slowing effect for he second half of the race.

Early on in the race a local accent boomed out "guys from Lancashire are here" the runner went on to explain that he was originally from Oldham and had moved to Yorkshire. He chatted for a bit longer and promptly trotted off into the distance. I was following a guy in a blue t-shirt for sometime, mesmerised by his sweat sodden back and the colour getting darker then further down his back the longer the race went on. I lost sight of him at around the same time I turned around to not see Dave!

At 18 miles I caught up with the guy wearing the blue shirt, the colour now retreating upwards! At this point I was overtaking a number of runners and feeling strong, in the distance the runner from Oldham. As I caught up to home my watch bleeped 19 miles and a 7:00 min/mile... my target pace! A brief chat with the Oldham chap and I pushed on, the last mile registering 6:31, the same as my first mile.

As I write this blog... a day late as I was whacked Sunday evening, the results still have not been published so my time unconfirmed is 2:17:45 some 2 minutes faster than target pace but I am happy to have felt good and my longest run since the Edinburgh Marathon last year. At Edinburgh I think my target was 8:12 minute pace and I was just a bit quicker then.

So legs intact and my morale boosted so once again roll on  the VLM and just 4 weeks to go


Have a great running week

Mark K

5 weeks to the VLM

Well the excitement for the Virgin London Marathon (VLM) just keeps building. On Monday the track was a busy old place not only did we have 12 athletes training (had them doing 10 x 400m) but Amanda Thirsk had around 30 of her Run in England group, training using 100m relay.
This meant 'track' being shouted on a routine basis! I stuck to my track4 card training to regiment a safe training environment.

Tuesday mornings run to work was a pleasure, stopping to take a photo of the calm scene featuring a couple of ducks:


At around 5 miles though I had sudden cramping sensation that had me doubled over which thankfully passed after a brief rest.

The run home was nice, the ducks were behaving themselves and just managed to get back on the roads before the light faded! The pace was good up and till 'Stinky Hill' and just plodded back.

Wednesday mornings run to work was a chore, the legs felt heavy, it was cold and windy. Worst of all I could not get the shower at work to be remotely hot. To cap it off I was going to be late out as HR had a new payroll system going live... Which was refusing to work! Thankfully Clare came to pick me up and so the evenings schedule was not lost.

The Running group I lead on a Thursday had a good workout achieving 5.21 miles which is the furthest they have run to date! Next Thursday they will be doing the last recce run of the Littleborough 5k which they are taking part in on the 30th March. They are doing very well and I am confident that they will produce great results on the night.

On Saturday I was due to take part in the Dentdale 14 mile road race which is number 3 in the Royton Road Runners championship. My wife Clare had opted to race direct at Oldham for me so that I could take part, unfortunately she was ill in the night so I reverted to plan A!
Oldham parkrun went well with 30 runners taking part on a dry morning (for a change) the local newspaper, Oldham Chronicle turned up to take a photo so that they can do a feature. So I look forward to seeing the article with much interest! I hope they don't spell my name wrong and put our winner (Mike Mannings) down as a junior... as journalist sometimes make errors!

I have been in the office for most of the day and took the opportunity to get a long run home in and made a route through "Boggart Hole Clough", I missed out on the cross country recently so was keen to see the park for myself. I was also breakng my Adidas Tempo's which I will be wearing at VLM, so far I am not feeling the love for them and after 4 miles my legs were not responding well to them. I stopped for a bit of a stretch and it did the trick and now the trainers are not concerning me so much!
By far the biggest adventure on my way home was exiting boggart and seeing a gang of lads on a bit of land neighbouring the path. Not an unsual event I grant you but the sound of something whizzing past my ear and breaking up in a tree next to me was. I assumed it was ether a stick that they had thrown but the speed and distance it had to travel. Then the thought it was an air rifle sunk in and let me tell you wearing the tempos came in handy and I picked up to 4:40 min/mile pace for the next 200 metres...

Tomorrow I post my coaching diary off for assessment which forms part of my level 2 coaches award, the big day for assessment being some 4 weeks away. I can tell you that the nerves are kicking in with the VLM being 5 weeks away it is adding to my grey locks!!!


Have a great running week

Mark K

New PB and 33rd at Great North West Half Marathon

What a great week for running! Monday nights track session had a downer when Chris pulled up during drills with a calf problem. Don and I were quick to his aid and hopefully the injury will heal in good time for the VLM. Chris is my room buddy at London and it will be a shame if he cannot run both for him and Dr Kershaw's hospice which he is supporting.
I had a run to work on Monday but baled out of running home as my legs are taking a bashing, the training load and my Adidas Sequence trainers getting no respite.
Tuesday was a hectic day at work and I decided not to go to the track, on Wednesday I was travelling down to Reading and finally arrived at 7pm so food was much more interesting than donning the trainers.

Thursday morning I went for a run in the centre of Reading which was no fun at all and gave up dodging ignorant pedestrian and headed for breakfast.

Friday morning I headed out on the road and made the snap decision to use Rochdale Canal towpath which is finally starting to a) get dry and b) get light enough to dodge to duck poo!
I headed back on the canal at home time and the legs responded well to a bit of speed now and then.

Saturdays Oldham parkrun was great and 35 runners set off at 9:00am, 12 PB's were the result of runners desperate to get back into their warm homes! I headed off to Sweatshop, Hyde to get shiny new racing shoes which will get their first test at the Silverstone Half next week. I also picked up some new Brook's to partner the horrid Adidas Sequences!

The Great North West Half Marathon

I started the day nice and early and headed up the motorway to ensure getting a good parking spot (Which was near as dammit outside the reception door). I also struggle to run well on morning races so had the idea that if I was awake for long enough I could trick my body into thinking it was the afternoon!
After joking with the girl who handed me the timing chip "at least I will be first at something today!" I headed out to the promenade to catch some sea air.
I spotted a lady setting up the runners world pacer promotional boards and offered to help. She turned out to be the Marketing Director for Natmag-Rodale who produce runners world! and enjoyed a chat whilst fighting the wind which was threatening to blow cars over let alone flag poles.

I decided to get near to the front of the pack for the race, which on reflection mingling in the pack would have been a warmer option!!!

The race itself was a windy affair with no real benefit of a tail wind on the lower promenade and a hellish head wind on the undulating top promenade. I spend most of the race by the side of Dave Kershaw (on the right in the picture) I could not however match his finish and he dashed to the finish around 10 seconds ahead of me.
I say around 10 seconds as there appears to be a fault with my timing chip!

My legs are giving the usual aches after a race and look forward to trying out the Brooks on the track as I do a recovery run. The Adidas Tempo's on an interval session Tuesday.

Roll on the VLM and have a great week

Mark