30 weeks to go

After falling last weekend, being put in plaster from my elbow to my thumb, being told I couldn't do anything for at least 11 days, with a possibility of pot for 6 weeks, this week was better than expected.
The pot came off Tuesday, being replaced with a splint, so although I had to still be careful, I could at least do bits.
So the training this week was light, (4 rest days!) but still ran twice, plus a couple of turbo sessions which is much more than nothing at all.

SUNDAY	Run – 7.5 miles, hilly run		Good Then BAD	A hilly loop session around Musberry Heights etc. 7.5 miles. 5.5 miles in fell hurting left hand / wrist. Hospital pm – in plaster! VERDICT - Nothing for 11 days!!!
MONDAY			Bad	Feel like a caged Tiger!!
TUESDAY			Bad	Back at hospital – Plaster removed, splint on. Can start again sooner than expected.
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY	Bike - Turbo		Good	40 minutes, tension at 30, after 20 minutes revs above 100.
FRIDAY	Road run – Hill session		Good	4 miles of hill work in 40 minutes. Up hill 100m, down 50m repeat
SATURDAY			Good	Rest
4th - 11th	Bike – Turbo Squats 4x50 Sit-ups 4x50		Good	55 minutes, tension at 30, after 20 minutes revs above 100. Felt great

Need to get more running done.
The road run on Friday pm with Nick was, for a road run, concentrating on hills, actually quite enjoyable. Plan to do 2 to 3 of these a week. Felt strong going up hill which is a great feeling to have. Could have done quite a few more reps, but didn't want to over do it!

This week, plan to pick up the training again.
The week after is 2 weeks of holidays and hopefully a few long runs. The plan is to do a few 15 miles plus just to see where I'm at with regard to stamina. I think I should be good, but time will tell.

Injury that could have been worse!

So after running in rain and hail stone I slipped and fell hurting my hand.
I was now in pot, from my elbow to my thumb for a minimum of 11 days, maximum of 6 weeks!
I was already beginning to feel like a caged tiger!
My wife's cousin and family came round Monday evening to see us and check out the injury. Anne is a nurse.
Anyway the upshot is, the pot is off, replaced by a splint.
So, I can run again, bike again, etc and no 6 weeks of pot!

The week has been pretty quiet, but a lot better than it could have been!

Gone from this for a potential 6 weeks to running again !!!! Happy days!!!

Injury!

After a steady to good week of running, bike, body weight exercises etc I thought I would cap the week off with a steady 8 mile run from Clough Head car park, through the woods over looking the reservoirs, up to Musberry heights etc adding on climbs, sections as and where I fancied.
The weather was pretty rough, hailstone and rain for the majority of the time I was out. Also due the recent torrential down pours the ground was in places completely water logged.
After 5 miles of wading through tracks that were now mini streams I headed for home.
I followed the Rosendale Way back, taking it nice and steady. I knew the ground under foot was potentially very slippy and took a few detours across moorland.
Back on the Rossendale Way, I took about 3 steps and whallop.
My legs ended up above my head and I came down to earth with one almighty bump!
At the time I remember thinking how painful the fall was. I looked down to see a jagged rock sticking up that my hand had hit.
The amazing thing is, when you fall, you jump up really quickly.
I set off back to the car thinking that the pain would go away. It didn't!
2 miles later I got back to the car, drove home, showered.
The pain got worse. So off to the hospital.
4 hours later, I left in pot being told I had broken my scaphoid bone at the base of my thumb.
I had to return 11 days later to re check.

This is the section of the Rossendale Way where I fell. The difference being this was thick with water and hail.

31 weeks to go

Overall a good week.
The run Saturday up and over Musberry Heights was great - felt strong, getting up and over climbs and feeling strong. The rest of the week was quite intense with plenty of exercise most days. Overall feeling strong.

The weeks summary -

SUNDAY	Run – 7.5 miles, hilly run	6 x 1000	G	Ran with Nick and Dave. A hilly loop session around Musberry Heights etc. 7.5 miles, felt great!
MONDAY	Exercise bike 45 mins + weights, arms and shoulders + 250 body weight squats		G	Tension on bike at 30 out of 50. Revs at 80 1st 10 mins, then upped the tension and revs to 90+ continued 40 mins. Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
TUESDAY	Badminton + 250 body weight squats	1hour	G	1 hour of badminton – speed session. Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
WEDNESDAY	Exercise bike 45 mins			Tension on bike at 30 out of 50. Revs at 80 1st 10 mins, then upped the tension and revs to 90+ continued 40 mins
THURSDAY	Badminton + 250 body weight squats	1hour	G	1 hour of badminton – speed session. Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
FRIDAY	Weights, arms and shoulders + 250 body weight squats		G	Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
SATURDAY	Same run as Sunday – with a twist!		G	5 miles into the run, things going well, then fell !!! Hospital for the afternoon!!
27th – 3rd				A good week, up to the fall Saturday!

Next post all about the fall

32 weeks to go ...

Overall it's been a good week of training.
Managed to do some training most days and at times managed to double up sessions.
Week one looks like ...

20^th November  2011 Sunday. Target - Coniston Marathon 26.2 miles,  42.2 kms. Targets 9 ish min miles. Time total about 4 hours. Weight 11 stone 7lbs.
32 WEEKS OF TRAINING TO GO
1 week of training      Weight 11stone 7lbs                                           G, A, B – Good, Average, Bad

SUNDAY	Run - Hambleden hill	6 x 1000	G	Ran with Nick – Steady run after a 21st
MONDAY	Exercise bike 45 mins + weights, arms and shoulders + 250 body weight squats		G	Tension on bike at 30 out of 50. Revs at 80 1st 10 mins, then upped the tension and revs to 90+ continued 45 mins. Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
TUESDAY	Badminton + 250 body weight squats	1hour	G	1 hour of badminton – speed session. Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
WEDNESDAY	Exercise bike 45 mins			Tension on bike at 30 out of 50. Revs at 80 1st 10 mins, then upped the tension and revs to 90+ continued 45 mins
THURSDAY	Badminton + 250 body weight squats	1hour	G	1 hour of badminton – speed session. Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
FRIDAY	Weights, arms and shoulders + 250 body weight squats		G	Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
SATURDAY	250 body weight squats		G	Weights, concentrating on arms and shoulders. 250 body weight squats in sets of 50.
20th – 26th				A good week, capped off with a good 7.5 mile run – felt strong

Overall an OK week – need to get another run in midweek – Thinking of a hill session on Wednesdays or a long ish run with hills involved. That will give me 4 runs a week, 2 to 3 bike sessions, need to use the stepper more, squats every day, try to add a set of 50 every 2^nd week. Weights, arms, shoulders, back and used for squatting.

Nick, the person running the marathon with me has also filled in a training diary, see below.

 20^th November  2011 Sunday. Target from today Coniston Marathon 26.2 miles  42.2 klms. Targets 10min. Miles total 4hrs,24min. Weight 13stone 6lbs.
32 WEEKS OF TRAINING
1 week of training      Weight 14stone 7lbs 2 ozs  

SUNDAY	Hambleden hill	6 x 1000	ND	Ran with Mark
MONDAY	No Run		D
TUESDAY	Liver hill	5 x 800	ND	First 4 laps 7min 47sec./ ran with Dave
WEDNESDAY	Marl Pits	1 x 1	D	4 laps of marl pits Gail 11min 6sec / joined gym / started diet  = G good  - A average  - B over eat
THURSDAY	Liver hill	5 x 800	ND	Slow run with Dave / diet G
FRIDAY	No Run		ND	Rest day G diet
SATURDAY	No Run		D	Rest for long run Sunday – Party night G diet
20th – 26th		17 miles

Weeks training-  Weight 14stone 6lbs 2 ozs  I have eaten like a sparrow all week to lose 1lb. Great first week with running  eating and yes less drink.. Will take four weeks to get fit for running

Setting a goal

Setting goals is vital to good running, or so I believe and I've wanted to run some serious miles for a while, but not on roads! - We've run the 3 Peaks in Yorkshire a few times, but never a race.

Recently received some terrible news regarding a pupil at school.
Due to confidentiality, can't say much at the moment, but the news isn't good.

Anyway, the plan is to raise some money, so Nick and myself have decided to run the Lakeland Trail Marathon on the 1st of July next year.
The idea is to get a number of sponsors, who we will display on our running tops as we run / attempt to run the Marathon.
I've been looking to run an organised Marathon for a while now, in particular one that is off road and when we found out the news, we put one and one together and hence - The Lakeland Trail Marathon.
Next year will only be the second running of the LTM, so it is very difficult to find out reports, thoughts, details of the course, heights etc. What I have been able to find is a few reports, most state it is one of the hardest runs people have done! - Time will tell.
Apparently the first 13 Km are all uphill.

So that's the goal - Run just over 26 miles, who knows how many feet of climbing, over trails and fells and raise a fair amount of money for such a good cause on the way.
I would think that most of the next crop of write ups will be based towards and on the Marathon training schedule.
My main concern is over training. At the moment I feel like I might be doing too much but we'll see.
Both Nick and I will diary our weekly sessions to see who, how much, diet, cross training etc.

Should be an interesting few months!

The winners time for last years LTM was over 3 hours, so must be pretty tough!!

One of the only images I can find of the race is below -

In the background is 'The Old Man of Coniston'

Link to the Marathon website is HERE

Training so far ...

Training has been ticking steadily over.
Most days have involved training of one form or another.
At times I have doubled up sessions given the opportunity.
At weekends I've tried to get a good run in with Nick in the morning and then at night, spend anything between 40 minutes and 60 minutes doing turbo training on the exercise bike.
In between these sessions I've done quite a bit of body weight and dumb bell weights.
I've also tried to do squats on a daily basis - These are in minimum sets of 30, maximum sets of 50, completing anything between 200 and 500 a night. I was reading an article from one of the older body builders who said he did squats daily and found it had a big impact, not just on leg strength as you would expect, but core strength and running up hill.
Having done these higher impact sessions now for a couple of weeks, I am definitely stronger running up hills. I feel that I can run a lot further at the moment with less effort - a good feeling!
However, I do feel more tired than usual.
This is probably due to three weeks of more intense training without really having a day off.
I think I'll continue training this way until after the weekend, then look to take a few days off, the body needs time to recover before I get some form of injury.
It has been a good few weeks of intense training and the results in improved performance and feeling generally stronger in all areas are great.
A few days off and back to it again.
Looking forward to a good run this weekend.