Monthly Archives: January 2012

The 5 second rule

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Drop food on the floor and if you pick it up within 5 seconds it’s safe or is it…

It might be an urban myth – that you have 5 seconds to pick up and eat food that has been dropped on the floor before it picks up germs and stuff – but when running, knocking 5 seconds off your time feels very good.

29 miles in total done this week and in new shoes with new in-soles (orthotics).  10 miles on Monday – 3 loops around the “block” (first time I’ve done loops like that) and not a bad run.  4 on  Thursday – fast – about 15 seconds slower for the 5km faster bit (but late at night and after a long day’s work so all good).  And then 15 today – a great first 8 miles and then slowed a bit for the next 5 and then a faster finish.  Along past the Thames in Twickenham and up to a busy Richmond Park for a bit – with a lot of other runners about.  You can tell it’s marathon training time!  And yes Richmond Park is still as hilly as it was a couple of years back – it’s the home of my longer (20+ mile runs).

New shoes this week – on recommendation of the foot biomechanics physio.  And nice shoes as well – ASICS Cumulus 13.  New in-soles from the physio in them as well (Vectorthotics), custom fit for me.  Have 3 sets for running, work shoes and one spare just in case.  Combination of all this new stuff and longer runs this week means sore feet – running it all in.  May need a bit of fine tuning from the physio on them but not too bad today on the 15 mile one.  And it’s not plantar fasciitis as diagnosed by the doctor (see post from last year) a few weeks back – it’s dodgy shaped feet.  Makes me feel so much better, but with these in-soles in all my shoes it should be sorted.

Fund raising needs to get kickstarted again now – your help is needed here.  Go to my Just Giving page to donate.  Only 12 weeks to go.  Some creative ideas from Mrs. Noble including cupcakes for everyone and homemade romantic Valentine’s cards.  Stay tuned…

4 runs planned this next week and back over 30 miles (over the full week).

Pacing it – 25 miles this week

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Not as many miles as originally planned this week.  The plan was 3 runs of 12, 14 and 6 miles (with the first 2 at marathon pace and the last as faster interval training).  Got off to a good start with 12 miles on Monday at the right pace but had left it too late on Wednesday to do 14 miles so settled for 8 instead (but slower).  And then 5 miles fast (ish) on Thursday evening – all wrapped up and with new running socks like DVT socks (not convinced about these yet – more testing needed).

Do need rethink long runs and how many to do per week and how much time between them.  The plan was to start like this week – with a longish one at the beginning of the week and then the real long one mid-week and then move to one long one on Saturdays over the next month or so.  The 2 mid-week ones are not really practical (and it’s not as much fun running when it’s dark) and don’t leave enough time between them and I need to concentrate on running at pace.  So it’s back to the drawing board and update the plan this weekend.

Running for charity – help needed

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A quick reminder what the London Marathon is all about – raising money for charity.  It is probably the biggest running event in the world, is definitely the biggest fund raising event in the world and has raised over £450 million for a range of great causes since 1981.  That’s an amazing amount of money raised for good causes.  Participants raise around £50 million in each event every year now and over 75% of the people running are doing it for charity.

These are some pretty amazing facts and really add to the experience on the day.  Running with over 36,000 other people (and this number grows every year), some in fancy dress, some out to break world records, with professional athletes and with the best crowd and city sights in the world to see, is nothing short of an awesome experience.

Whilst I’m not doing it in fancy dress, I’m still aiming to raise as much money as possible for Whizz-Kidz, through donations from friends, family and others who are kind enough to donate to this good cause, Christmas carol singing with the guys from Whizz-Kidz, a karate club kickathon (everyone doing as many kicks as they can in 2 hours with prizes for the ones doing the most and the best techniques) and more.

Some really important facts about what Whizz-Kidz do are below:

  • There are 70,000 disabled kids in the UK waiting for the right wheelchair.  In some cases kids as old as nine are still being pushed around in a toddler’s buggy simply because they do not have timely access to the equipment they need.
  • It costs on average 3 times as much to raise a disabled child as a non-disabled child and Whizz-Kidz will provide 1,200 wheelchairs and adapted trikes this year.
  • Disabled young people are over twice as likely as their non-disabled peers not to be in education, employment or training.  Whizz-Kidz will provide over 100 work placements this year.
  • Whizz-Kidz will deliver Wheelchair Skills Training to over 700 disabled kids this year.

The money we raise for them goes to helping all these children live much more active lives – something we all take for granted.

So how can you help?  One donation is all it takes.  A big big thank you to everyone who’s made a donation so far.  If you’d like to make a donation just go to http://www.justgiving.com/jasonnoble1 and follow the instructions.

You can also make a guess at how long it will take me to finish and be in with the chance of winning a bottle of bubbly.  To make a guess go to my Guessability page.

And of course if you’d prefer to donate with good old fashioned cash or a cheque, let me know and I’ll give you details on how to get it to me.

My fund raising target is an ambitious £3,000 and I need your help to get there!

Next post about running this week…

Running in wind, rain and hail

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What a fine start to 2012 – 3 good runs this week; 10 miles on Monday, 5.3 miles interval training on Wednesday and 12 miles today.

Good run on Monday at a good pace with loads and loads of people out in Bushy Park walking on the last day off for Christmas.  And yes some rather foolish people taking very close-up (i.e. getting physically close) photos of large stag with giant antlers – not a wise move.  Great run last night doing interval work – 1.5 mile warm-up, 6 sets of 1/4 fast and 1/4 back recovery and 1 mile cool down.  Today’s run not good though – changed the days around with the interval run and not enough recovery time between.  Legs heavy from the run last night but still got off to a good start.  Strong winds all over the UK right now (see BBC News) and they managed to be blowing against me for the full 12 miles – a pretty amazing feat given that I ran back along the same route.  Very very hard running into strong and cold wind.  Then to top it off it starting raining heavily and then came the hail stones – what fun.  Not big ones, but you could feel them.  About 5 solid minutes of them – not much fun.  Pace took a big hit with the wind and then once pace starts to drop off, I can’t pick it back up.  My good old Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch allows me to track average pace throughout the runs – and it’s amazing see it drop off like it did.  Today’s started at 7:45 per mile, then got up to about 7:52 per mile at 5 miles – so bang on my target pace.  Then the bad weather hit and dropped to 8:00 quickly and then 8:10 and then right down to 8:40 at one point – rubbish.  Managed to pick up again with the faster finishes I like doing.

Lessons learnt today…

  1. Don’t do an interval run the day before a long run.
  2. Leave at least one clear rest day between hard runs.
  3. Pray for a non-windy day (or move somewhere hot and sunny by the beach).

And yes a very good job I did decide – literally last minute – to take the waterproof running jacket with me today.

2012 – London’s year

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That’s 2011 finished and a week since Christmas.  Despite late starting with running last week – with Christmas Day and Christmas food getting in the way – I picked up and did 20 miles over 3 runs.  Last run just before lunch on New Years Eve – 4 miles at just better than 7 minutes 15 seconds per mile (a nice pace).  And a new last run of 2011.

The serious marathon training starts now with the mileage picking up fast.  25 miles planned over 4 runs this coming week.  Still need to think about 3 or 4 or even 5 runs a week and what the optimum number is.  A bit more research and thinking needed.

130 ish miles done in December.  And all at around the planned marathon pace – getting used to running at that pace, so the plan may be working!  Longer ones needed now to make sure I can hold it.

2012 promises to be an amazing year for London – the London Marathon in April, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June and then the London 2012 Olympics over the summer.

The London New Year’s Eve fireworks set the bar last night showing what London can do and what the celebrations this year will be like.  An awesome display last night and absolutely now best in the world.  11 minutes long and costing a bargain £2 million – click here to see the full video on the BBC News web site – it’s very impressive.  Could be seen and heard all the way from Twickenham where we are.

A very Happy New Year to you and here’s to 2012 bringing everything you wish and hope for, and more.