QR codes in shoes?

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Whatever next?  In the shoe at the back of the in-sole.  Only spotted them when I took the new Brooks shoes off tonight after my run…

Had to scan it as soon as I spotted it but tried to scan it with the QRReader iPhone app with no success – shadows kept getting in the way.  Genius Mrs. Noble – who was busy sorting out the gorgeous roses I’d got her for Valentine’s Day (care of good old M&S) – suggested taking the in-soles out…  kind of obvious really.

In-soles out, app ready, QR code scanned… where does it go to?  Brooks FaceBook page with a “like” button right there and a competition to win an iPad2 – not bad, a clever idea.

Sore-ish feet in the meantime after an 8 mile run in the new shoes – but new shoes so expected.  Longest run in the training so far coming this weekend – 18 miles.

Who needs new shoes?

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After a month or so running with the new shoes and new in-soles, painful feet and blisters forced me to re-assess.  A quick trip back to the physio, who just said the shoes are too loose and then a few more runs with them tied up better, but still not good.  Back to good old Sweatshop in Teddington today and with their fantastic 30 day returns on shoes (after you’ve tried them as much as you want).  A long chat with one of the guys there and trying on new shoes, and back to Brooks, that just feel far far better on my feet – it’s so comfortable when you put your feet in them.  And then a chat about marathons and the guy serving me (Tim) being very modest about his own one-time marathon run of 2 hours 35 minutes!  Awesomeness right in front of me.  That’s 26.2 miles at less than 6 minutes per mile.  Unbelievable.  Now I’m listening even more to this guy – some good training tips as well from him (including doing speed running as I’ve been doing).  Then a suggestion from Tim on looking at lighter shoes – as well – to use for actually running the marathon in.  Something I’d never thought of.  Tried on a pair of bright yellow Adidas Adizero ones – and you can’t feel these shoes on your feet.  So nice.  Plan is to do the longer pace runs in these ones.

A very productive trip to Sweatshop and thanks to their 30 day guarantee and great service, I got better shoes, another pair (some more socks) and paid more money but all happy.

4 good runs this week.  8 miles to start and then 9 miles the next day (at a faster pace) and then 10 the next (slightly slower).  Really enjoying the 10 mile distance as well.  And then a 4.5 miler on Saturday with first 5km fast (not as fast as recently though – being about -5 degrees C didn’t help).  3 planned this week with an 18 miler long one.

 

 

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.

Too many mince pies

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First run today for 6 days and didn’t feel good.  10 miles but very slow – 8 minutes slower than last 10 miler along the same route.  Pace almost 45 seconds per mile slower.

That would put me a mile behind me last week on the same route – rubbish really.

Things different today?

  • Early run – started at 7:40am (recent ones have been around 11am)
  • Not run for 6 days – normally max. 2 days between runs
  • Too many mince pies over Christmas (and turkey curry last night)
  • Slow starting pace

So are these excuses or genuine reasons why I was slower?  Good question.  The slower starting pace is the real killer – if you don’t feel good when you go and you naturally start off a bit slower, it’s very hard to pick up (as mentioned before).  Starting pace was about 8:02 but I then slowed down over the run – which is even worse!

The Christmas dinners and the usual excess of food and drink over the Christmas period may have affected the run – it does make a huge difference when running when full (or after a heavy meal the night before – or 5 nights before over Christmas) – but all worth it and we had a lovely Christmas.  Very much a family occasion for us and spent with grandparents and auntie and cousins.  And of course Father Christmas made his appearance on Christmas Eve and was caught on Noble CCTV coming down the chimney delivering presents.  Ho ho ho!

Let it (virtually) snow

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In the absence of real snow, we have the virtual alternative.  Watch this page slowly and you’ll see “snowflakes” falling across it after a few seconds – the wonders of clever technology (thanks to WordPress).  On a similar thread, Google have their own little snowy themed “Easter Egg” this year.  Go to the main Google page, type in “let it snow” – without the “” – and click search.  Snow starts to fall across your screen and after a while it frosts up and a new defrost button appears.  Have never understood how someone has the time to develop these and why.  Maybe I need to read a bit more about them – by clicking on the link above.  I’m sure there’s some logic behind them somewhere.

A white Christmas in London this year?  Probably not – no sign still of the arctic winter that was predicted.  Though little Mr. Noble has now had 2 snowy Christmas times – not on Christmas Day specifically but around then – out of the 2 he’s had in total.  His 3rd this year.

Could it be any easier?

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Don’t forget, all the marathon training is to help support the great work that the guys at Whizz-Kidz do, helping disabled children become more mobile.  The clip below from their web-site gives some details on the work they do – please have a read:

These guys have several hundred runners in the London Marathon raising money for them and it is their biggest fund raising event of the year.  They also really help support the runners whilst fund raising with marathon training sessions, regular newsletters and getting people involved in other activities (e.g. Christmas carols).  Some pics below from the Christmas carols at Fulham Broadway shopping centre last weekend.  We went along after the carols at the Royal Albert Hall and sung some more for another couple of hours. The guys from Whizz-Kidz were there from 10am until 7pm with their running volunteers coming along for 2 hour sessions throughout the day and we raised almost £1,400.

The little Nobles and Nic also helped out with mum and dad coming along for a little bit as well.

So could what be any easier?  Donating.  With the wonders of modern technology – and the services from Just Giving all you need to do is send a quick text message (care of a cool new service set up with Vodafone) from your mobile with the amount you would like to donate to 70070 and the code VCKN89.  You receive a text message receipt from them and can even tick a box to allow Whizz-Kidz to get back Gift Aid from HMRC.

Don’t buy that extra 1/2 pint at the pub – please send a quick text message and help make a real difference to these children’s lives.