I blew the dust off the Garmin to bring you a few months of training

13/12/2010-19/12/2010

Monday- Rest day

Tuesday- Rest day

Wednesday- Rest day

Thursday- Rest day

Friday- Rest day

Saturday- Session in the pouring snow. Ran to Cannon Hill then did 4x6mins at tempo and then I ran home again. I didn’t have a Garmin so I don’t know the pace I was running at and the snow was so thick I couldn’t see the ground and gauge whereabouts I was starting from on the loop. Was a really tough session with the snow and not running for a week didn’t help things but I just about got through it.

Sunday- 53 mins easy back in London.

17 mile week

20/12/2010-26/12/2010

Monday- am: 40 mins easy

pm: 40 mins easy and core. Felt quite good but it was hard running on the ice.

Tuesday- Session on the grass of 6 min tempo, 6x1 minute of a minute, 6 min tempo, 6x30s off 30s and then a 6 min tempo. Again I found the tempo work hard but the ice and snow didn’t help matters.

Wednesday- 65 mins steady plus core. Still running on the ice but felt good.

Thursday- 63 mins steady.

Friday- 64 mins steady.

Saturday- 25 min tempo. Managewd to find a loop from my house which had no ice on it so I could run fast. I did the loop twice and after the first one I was pretty tired and wanted to stop. I couldn’t have been in bad shape though as I went through the first lap in 13 mins and did the second in 12:30. Again no Garmin so I had no idea how fast I was running.

Sunday- 80 mins easy. Legs were pretty tired

73 mile week

27/12/2010-2/1/2011

Monday- am: 40 mins easy

             pm: 40 mins steady plus core

Tuesday- am: Grass session of 10 min tempo, 20x15s hill sprints then 3 mins as hard as I could. Felt ok on the tempo and hill sprints but the 3 mins were so hard. I really nailed it and I went off super quick. Really felt like I was dying by the end.

              pm: 40 mins easy

Wednesday- 65 mins steady plus core. Felt surprisingly good.

Thursday- 40 mins at steady state. I had no Garmin or heart rate monitor so I had to guess the pace but it felt pretty hard.

Friday- 50 mins steady. Felt ok.

Saturday- 1 hour. Felt really good.

Sunday- Only 55 mins as I had been travelling to Birmingham and back during the day and felt pretty tired.

60 mile week

3/1/2011-9/1/2011

Monday- Rest day because of travelling to Kenya.

Tuesday- 40 mins really easy.

Wednesday- 1 hour very easy plus circuits.

Thursday- am: 40 mins very easy and drills.

               pm: 40 mins a bit faster. Felt really good.

Friday- am: 1 hour very easy.

               pm: Core work

Saturday- Tempo session of 2x12 mins off 4 mins recovery.

Sunday- am: 75 mins very easy

            pm: Core and drills

50 mile week

10/1/2011-16/1/2011

Monday- am: 40 mins easy plus weights.

             pm: 34 mins. Felt ok although the lentils for lunch w

Tuesday- am: 40 mins easy

              pm: Track session of 10x400m off 2 mins recovery.

Wednesday- am: 65 mins. Felt a bit tired and quads were slightly sore

              pm: Circuits

Thursday- 40 mins very easy in the morning. Only one run as my throat was a bit sore.

Friday- 45 mins very easy

Saturday- am: Session of 10 min tempo, 5 mins recovery, 3x3 mins off 2 mins recovery then 5x30s uphill strides.

               pm: 30 mins very easy

Sunday- 80 mins easy.

65 mile week

17/1/2011-23/1/2011

Monday- am: 40 mins easy plus weights

             pm: 40 mins easy and 5x5/6s hill sprints

Tuesday- Track session of 2x3x600m plus 4x200m. Stopped in the middle of the second one as I felt tired.

Wednesday- Rest due to the way yesterday’s session went.

Thursday- am: 40 mins easy plus circuits.

               pm: 40 mins easy

Friday- am: Threshold session of 3x7mins plus 2x200m after. Paces were 4:58, 4:59 and 5:05 then 26, 26. Really hard session at altitude plus on the last one I got a really bad pain in my side which killed me for the last few minutes. 200’s were on the short side of the track so I suppose you add a second or two to make it 200m.

Pm: 30 mins easy

Saturday-am: 65 mins easy. Felt really good.

              pm: Core work

Sunday- Second attempt at the track session I was meant to do on Tuesday. This time I finished and the times were 1:36 (through a lap in 63), 1:38 (65), 1:37 (65), 1:38 (65), 1:37 (65), 1:35 (64) then 29, 29, 28, 27 on the long side of the track. Really good session but those 600’s hurt so much! I was ready to give in after one set but I hung on for dear life.

53 mile week

24/1/2011-30/1/2011

Monday- am: 48 mins easy and core

             pm: 40 mins easy

Tuesday- am: 45 mins easy and weights

              pm: 30 mins easy

Wednesday- 1 hour easy and core.

Thursday- 20 mins easy plus strides

Friday- Serpentine Last 5k of the month. I won in 14:53 (I’m sure a race report will mature at some point)

Saturday- 1 hour easy at Parliament hill while viewing the Southern

Sunday- 80 mins easy

60 mile week

31/1/2011-6/2/2011

Monday- am: 40 mins plus weights

             pm: 40 mins

Tuesday- am: 40 mins easy

              pm: Track session by myself of 1 mile in 5 minutes then 2 sets of 200, 400, 600 with 90s between reps and a lap between sets. I did 5 minutes, 30, 61, 1:31, 30, 59, 1:29. Was hard work in the cold but I was really happy with this. These are good times for me in the summer let alone this time of year.

Wednesday- am: Circuits

                   pm: 60 mins

Thursday- am: Ran 15 mins down the canal then picked up on the way back and got back in 12:08. Felt ok but not great. Legs didn’t feel 100% but that may have been due to me doing this in the morning.

               pm: 30 mins very easy

Friday- Rest day as I felt under the weather.

Saturday- BUCS XC while still feeling under the weather. Managed to bring back the win plus we got the team title on home turf. Again, I’m sure a race report will somehow manage to find its way onto your screens at some point, just don’t know when yet.

Sunday- 80 mins round Alsager. Felt really good and seemed like the illness had cleared.

61 mile week

7/2/2011-13/2/2011

Monday-am: 40 mins easy

            pm: 38 mins steady.

Tuesday-am: 38 mins easy

             pm: Track session by myself of 10x400m off a minute. Times were 63, 62, 62, 62, 62, 63, 62, 62, 62, 62, 61. I remember I was knackered after the first 5 and I was really hanging for the last half.

Wednesday- am: Circuits

                   pm: 66 mins steady.

Thursday-am:  7 mile steady state with mile splits of 5:37, 5:31, 5:21, 5:17, 5:20, 5:23, 5:16.

Friday-am: 43 mins easy

          pm: 30 mins easy

Saturday-am: Session at Cannon Hill by myself. 2 miles at tempo then 5x2mins off 90s then 5x30s. Splits for the 2 miles were 4:48 then a 4:40, then the paces for the 2 min reps were 4:31, 4:32, 4:31, 4:32 and 4:28.

              pm: 40 mins

Sunday- 80 mins

76 mile week

14/2/2011-20/2/2011

Mondays-am: 40 mins easy plus weights

              pm: 40 mins steady

Tuesday-am: 40 mins easy

             pm: Track session of 6X800m with Steve and Mark Miles. We were meant to run them alternating between 2:16 and 2:10 and the times we ran were 2:17, 2:09, 2:15, 2:08, 2:17, 2:06. I then ran 3x200m in 30, 29, 28 and I added a mile before the session in 4:50. This was really hard but I’m happy with the times we ran especially the last 800 where we ran a 64 then a 62.

Wednesday-am: Circuits

                  pm: 65 mins steady.

Thursday: am-8 mile steady state with splits of 5:38, 5:17, 5:29, 5:20, 5:22, 5:04, 5:11 and 5:11. Felt awesome on this run, didn’t realise how fast I was running at the end.

               pm: 40mins easy

Friday-am: 50 mins easy

         pm: Core work

Saturday- am: Session at Cannon hill by myself of 3 mile tempo and then 8x1 minute off a minute. I did the 3 miles in 14:24 (which is a PB). Felt quite tired in this session but managed to get through it.

              pm: 40 mins easy.

Sunday-am: 80 mins

           pm: Core work

84 mile week (PB)

21/2/2011-27/2/2011

Monday-am 40 mins easy plus weights

            pm: 40 mins steady.

Tuesday-am: 40 mins easy

             pm: Track session with Steve of 3x1 mile off a lap jog but running the reps with alternating laps of 72 and 66 so we end up with a 4:36 mile. We ended up running 4:34, 4:31 and 4:30.

Wednesday-am: Circuits

                  pm: 65 mins steady

Thursday- am: 8 mile steady state and I averaged 5:27 for this one (forgot to set my Garmin to get every mile split). Felt quite tired today.

               pm: 40 mins easy and core.

Friday- am: 51 mins easy.

           pm: Core work

Saturday-am: Session at Cannon hill by myself. Did the Moneghetti session which is 2x90s, 4x1min, 4x30s and 4x15s with the recovery being the same length as the rep and no slower than 6 minute miling. I averaged 4:50 miling for the whole session (including recoveries, they were quicker than 6 minute miling) and went through 4 miles in 19:20. This is the best I’ve ever done this session. My best average before this was 5:10 miling I think.

             pm: 40 mins easy

Sunday: 80 mins.

82 mile week

28/3/2011-6/3/2011

Monday- 50 mins easy plus weights

Tuesday-am: 42 mins easy plus core

             pm: Track session of 1k then 6x400m off a minute. Did 2:44 then 66, 65, 66, 65, 64, 64. Felt really good. I was really happy with the 1k as I did it off a couple minutes jogging and no drills so didn’t really warm up properly.

Wednesday-am: Circuits

                  pm: 45 mins easy

Thursday-30 mins easy plus drills

Friday-17 mins easy plus strides

Saturday- Inter-counties. See eventual race report

Sunday- Rest

40 mile week

4/3/2011-13/3/2011

Monday- Rest

Tuesday- Rest

Wednesday- 45 mins steady plus weights

Thursday- 45 mins steady

Friday- 45 mins steady

Saturday- 45 mins but split into 15 mins normal running then 30 mins of 3 mins hard running then 2 mins of normal running. Was really hard work.

Sunday- 1 hour steady

37 mile week