9 miles

SO this is week three of my marathon training. After a strange last week, I am back on track and upping my mileages every week. Today was the longest run I have attempted ( I managed an 8 miler last week) I am getting used to these long runs quite well and seem able to get through the whole run without any major breaks (I take steps up bridges as a chance to gulp some water)

I think my pace is a bit faster than that the schedule reccommends - as I certainly am making an effort to run as slow as I possible can. My average pace this run was 8:31 (although probably skewed a little by picking up the pace to 7:49 for the last mile. This would bring me in comfortably under a 4-hour finish time. On the 8 mile run last week I averaged 8:45

After the run I managed to do some chin-ups and a short kettlebell workout.

Gym - Kew Bridge - Chiswick Bridge

Did my usual 3 mile run around Kew and Chiswick riverside. When I get back from Miami and Puerto Rico I'm going to be more adventurous with my routes. Right now this run is convenient and lets me have some spa time at the gym after :)

I did try and slow my pace today, but still came out at 08:01 per mile, and the fastest time for this route I've done. Although I was running for quite some time on the treadmill I found it hard to go back to outside running. I felt a big improvement today and managed the three miles at this fast pace without stopping at all (my Garmin tells me this!)

I'm looking forward to getting some new running shoes on holiday. I've noticed a small pain on the outside of my thigh. Think I need new shoes to help stop this. I can't wait to log a run from South Beach as well. Do normal people run on holiday?

5 mile run around Kew Gardens

A new rout for me today, and a very convenient 5 mile route around Kew Gardens. I drove to Kew retail park, parked up my car and started the run.

My legs were still feeling a bit sore from the other day so I made sure I stretched afterwards, and went to the gym for some bubbles :)

My Garmin tells me that I ran 5.2 miles in 41.01 minutes. Not bad, although I think I should pace myself a bit better. Mile 3 split was 7:23. Average HR was 180, peaking at 189

The run is flat and has nice scenery down he river side. Coming back up the other side is by a very busy road, but it seemed to go past pretty quickly.

Lost in Barnes

I have a terrible sense of direction - I plan a great little run - starting in Chiswick, down to Putney Bridge via Hammersmith, then across to Barnes Bridge and back to Chiswick. An exact 6 miles.

However, a little detour around Barnes turned this into a seven-mile run. I felt fine, and completed it in an hour. Pace of 08:41 per mile

I feel I have let myself go a wee bit over the last couple of weeks - I have been very busy with work, and family coming to see me that I haven't had as much time to workout as I would have liked. I feel knackered - and have eaten very unhealthily. I suppose I see my excuse as being that these are the last few weeks before I go away on holiday and then come back to the full training plan!

.. on a side note, good news today about a wedding booking. Jane and Tristan decided to go with me for their wedding in June. It really couldn't have come at a better time and should give me a great album (and the confidence) to start getting bookings for next year. I understand the apprehension on their part - their decision was to go for a cheap (but good!) newbie like me or an expensive old pro. I'm not sure what swayed them in the end, but I know I can get them a great collection of images!

I did manage to get a 5 miler in this week. The garmin didn't pick up the signal at frst though so it only says 4 miles on the map. Teething problems!

I don't think my HR monitor was positioned correctly - so I'll discount those figures for this run. Pretty good pace over the 4 recorded miles of 08:11 per mile., and 07:57 for 93% of the run.

weddings

I've found it hard to go out training this week (still not in proper training so I don't feel bad). The reason is that I have been on a Wedding Photography training course near Maidenhead run by The Trained Eye.

It's been great and very inspiring. Hopefully I can start getting some work from weddings - already had two people contact me today. Need to get my rates sorted out!

First 5-miler

On Thursday morning I went out into the countryside (well, Virginia Water) and attempted a 4 mile run. I had my route planned with http://www.mapmyrun.com and though it was easy: run once around the lake.

However I did get lost and ended up running all around the park, and as my Garmin tells me, I clocked up 5.2 miles in 47 minutes. The run was amazing - it was sunny and mild, and I had a great time. I felt I could have run on even more - but wanted to keep my training building slowly. The first 2.5 miles were hard, and then everything just kicked in. Running on grass, mud and tarmac was also much kinder to the legs than the road :)

Some other stats from the Garmin (which is being a bit stubborn and refusing to upload this particular run)

My average heart-rate was 172 bpm at a pace of 9:13 / mile. This is 89% of my max. I'm a bit worried this is too high.

...going to research that!

I am a marathoner

After much consideration... OK, after a few glasses of red wine and a horrible late shift at work, I decided that I wanted to run a marathon.

I figured that my respectable 30th place, 45min time, and accolade of raising the most money from 300 competitors in the GYRO 10k last September means that I am perfect marathon material. So, fuelled by the red wine I had a quick internet search; the London Marathon was too soon; as was the Edinburgh Marathon; the Milton Keynes marathon was a bit uninspiring...

..then up came the Berlin Marathon. Berlin is a city I haven't visited since 2003 when I went inter-railing. I remember feeling very relaxed in the city, and that of all the places on my trip it felt "most like home". The course takes runners past what's left of the wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the TV tower.

....we always said we wanted to go back to Berlin....

With my credit card ready, I entered my details and registered for the race - at the end of September this year. I am officially running the Berlin Marathon!

As such, this blog will now become a "Berlin Marathon Training Blog". I will continue giving reviews of itrains if I use them - but will be focusing a lot of my attention on running outside - data collated using my Garmin 305 gadget :)

My aims from now until September:

1) to complete marathon training safely
2) complete the marathon
3) reduce my body fat % a bit

Here's a sneaky peek at what kind of info that Garmin 305 can give me!

Chest & Triceps and ICYCLE 3 - 20 mins

A lesson in neglection was learned today as I realised I have been happily plodding along and only really doing the exercises I like. I love running and I love working my chest, shoulders and biceps - and I discovered the consequences of this during a new upper body rotation I'm starting from the website www.gynminee.com

I'm happy working my chest, and was able to use higher weights that suggested on all the exercises. All the exercises use dumb-bells,

Pec Deck
3 sets - 10 reps
28kg
EASY

Bench Press
3 sets - 10 reps
28kg
MODERATE

Incline Bench Press - Hammer Grip
3 sets - 10 reps
20kg
MODERATE +

Then on to the triceps - and it quickly became clear that doing a few tricep dips every week hasn't been helping my triceps! I had to go lower than the suggested weights and found it a real struggle - only completing two sets in each exercise.

Tricep Press
2 sets - 10 reps
14kg
HARD

Tricep Extension
2 sets - 10 reps
8kg
HARD

Tricep Kick-Backs
2 sets - 10 reps
5kg
HARD

Then for CV it was on to iCYCLE 3 - 20 minutes. Now, I think my lack of hard cycling recently also showed here - I found it quite tough to keep going at the speeds and resistances Keith suggested. I made it through to the end - but incredibly tired!

iTRAIN 3

60 minutes

I had an induction at my new gym today (despite it not opening till 11th Feb) and was a bit disappointed we couldn't see it (due to health and safety). Instead we just ran through the Fitlinxx machines. Now these do look good and when you workout on the treadmill it records the speed, incline and how far you travelled. SO lots of extra things to add to my blog hopefully (and prove when I say I don't cheat that I don't cheat!)

Speaking of not cheating, I managed to get through this 60 minute workout at runners speeds (or above) with no cheating. Only recoveries I had were those that Grace gave me. I felt the runners high and tried to avoid the stares of everybody as I grinned my way to the "finish line" - wait till I try iTRAIN 25 and do the side-stepping!

As usual there are four phases, which actually gives a better pacing that the 30 - 45 minute itreads. Phase 1 is a moderate warm-up - mostly steady runs increasing to 11.5km, then up a 1% hill. Phase 2 increases intensity with a fast run, recovery, 5% hill, recovery, fast run, recovery pattern. Then it's a fast run into phase three which begins with a walk up a 10% hill before increasing to a 12%. I had to go faster than suggested to keep my heart rate up. After this it's some sprints. I managed to go at my fastest speed ever - 16km. It's reportedly a 90 second sprint - but we all know how flexible Grace can be with the time.

A really easy jog home finishes the iTREAD - clocking in just under 10km. I do think it's testament to the iTRAI team that I manage to get through 60 mins of CV-work that is at the top intensity levels. I used to get fatigued (both body and mind) at 30 mins - thanks to Grace I can now keep everything going for a full hour.

iCYCLE 26 - 30mins

This one is with Mimi - who normally takes the iSCUPLT workouts. Keith is great at the cycling workouts so can Mimi compare?

I was impressed with Mimi and how her workout differed from those that Keith does. His are conventional cycles, but Mimi introduced travelling back and forth in the saddle and push-ups - something you might find in a spinning class. Some people might feel a bit awkward doing this in the gym - but I think it's a good addition to the cyling mix and I hope Mimi has some more cycling workouts up her sleeve.

It felt very intense - don't be fooled by the first 90 seconds that seem far too slow for a cycle, she cranks it up with some big hills and some incredibly fast sprint intervals. About 22 minutes in I had to take a break such was the intensity.

Before the workout I did some back work, shoulder and abs. 40kg on the lat pull dows, 16kg on upright row and shoulder press, 8kg on lateral raises, 8kg on side-reaches with some crunches thrown in at the end.

iTREAD 9 - 40mins

...I'm back on the train

This was quite tough. Although I did manage to do the whole workout at top runners speeds. There are no recoveries in the first half which makes it harder - the second half has a lot of recovery time and feels much better paced as a result. I did the workout exactly as Grace says with no cheating!