Weekly Review

I figured I'd give a summary of the week, every Sunday evening after my main run. It has been a low key week, training wise. I wanted to ease up after going 10 miles last Sunday. A gentle treadmill session on Tuesday was followed by my weekly swim session on Wednesday. I never had a particularly athletic childhood, due largely to the nature of my upbringing ("focus on your studies!") and illness. However I was exposed to swimming at an early age and owe any skill I have to my father who taught me the basics. I had a brief stint in the pool in summer after my GCSEs but hadn't been at all since then, until a few weeks ago. I've never been a strong swimmer and in particular I am incredibly slow. But I do seem to have stamina, swimming 20 lengths at a time at the moment, without even having to push myself too much. My memories of swimming are peppered with images of prolonged water fights. That isn't really my goal any more. Not because I've grown out of it; indeed a recent punting session with friends culminated in a free for all battle (what happened on the river stays on the river). Rather, swimming is an aid to boost my stamina. It is my main form of cross training and needs a certain level of intensity to be of any benefit. That doesn't take away all of the fun; I'd forgotten how much I enjoy just being in the water.

My multipurpose watch (lap timer, pedometer, heart monitor) arrived on Friday morning. Another big investment but one which is already making training easier. I was worried the pedometer wouldn't be very accurate, but it has 5 different sensitivity settings. Time to put it to the test. On Friday was another fartlek session. The word 'fartlek' (or falter+k in Countdown terms) is taken from Swedish, meaning speed play. Loosely speaking, it involves a casual run with sudden, temporary sharp increases in speed (usually 50-100 metres at a time). It really is quite tough and is the one aspect of training I don't look forward to. Just as I'm getting back to comfortable breathing, my pleasure is short lived as it's time to speed up again. The whole point is to improve one's anaerobic (lovely 9) threshold (and again) by increasing one's tolerance (I am on fire!) to uncomfortable breathing. Whilst being the toughest part of training, it is no doubt one of the most rewarding in that it is clearly making a difference in the long term. As for the pedometer, it agreed with Google Maps to within 50 metres, over a distance of just under 5 miles. Good enough! I had a few issues with the heart rate monitor; at one point it told me my heart had stopped. Luckily, both my heart and the pedometer are performing fine now.

Last week I ran 10k in around 55 minutes. So proud I was that I flaunted this fact on Facebook. However that was a 'tempo run', meaning my pace was consistent and controlled. I was not at full throttle and decided this week to push myself further. Well, today's run was certainly not a tempo run. My 10k run is split into 4 legs; the first is around 1.6 miles (note my seamless transition from metric to imperial) and mostly uphill. The second leg is then the same, but downhill (obviously). The next 1.4 miles starts off downhill and flattens out. By the time I return to the starting point (my house), I have around 400 metres to go, which is pretty much the length around the surrounding block. I'll put my split times up on a separate page at some point. What was clear was that I pushed myself a little too much on the first leg, meaning much of the run was uncomfortable. I had my eye on the 50 minute mark and was well on course throughout, although I needed a big effort in the final leg. Luckily my iRiver (poor man's iPod) was pumping out the Karate Kid soundtrack, which I finally got hold of. Bill Conti is amazing (who hasn't been inspired by the Rocky music?) and gave me a much needed boost. I came through in a time of 49:15, prompting my first "COME ON!!!", much to the amusement of an elderly bystander.

An incredible time for my standards. Running was always other people but now I seem to be half decent. I'll not get carried away though, because this run exhausted all of my resources. I don't expect to improve on this too much in the coming weeks, but surely 45 minutes is a reasonable long term target now.

Looking at my schedule, I'm around half way towards a half marathon (the schedule is by no means absolute but is a useful guide). From now on, I'll be embarking on much longer runs on the weekend, eventually building up to the 13-14 mile mark. This was always about endurance and I don't want to lose sight of that. I'm thrilled to have injected speed into the mix, but the primary aim is to go the distance. I have set myself a goal of below 2 hours for the half marathon, but I'll be happy enough just to finish in one piece.

I plan to go home this week so will take to the streets of Coventry. I sort of feel like Muhammad Ali in Zaire, embracing his roots. Except that's probably the worst comparison ever. He's nowhere near my level. Seriously though, I look forward to the change of scenery.