Tag Archives: Weather

10 top running tips

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10 tips from my previous blog posts on how to get the best out of your running…

  1. Always use Vaseline – read more (this helps with the infamous runner’s nipples)
  2. Don’t run on empty – read more
  3. Don’t run when not feeling well – read more
  4. Vary your training and run some hills – read more
  5. Ignore the weather and just run – read more
  6. Do some intervals (run slow and then fast and repeat) – read more
  7. Have a plan – read more
  8. Don’t forget to recover – read more
  9. Be motivated – read more
  10. Set a pace and keep to it – read more

These are tips that I’ve found work very well and help you improve – both speeds and distances covered and they help to keep injuries at bay.

One extra one not mentioned – let’s put in as number 0 – so right at the top, get good shoes!  So so so important and it makes a huge difference.  Go to a specialist running shop – like Sweatshop – and get professional advice.  Try the shoes out, test a few pairs and see which suit you best.  And the blog post about the good shoes tip is here.

How to focus in the age of distraction? And a 10k run.

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A superb mind-map from Learning Fundamentals in Australia about how to focus in the age of distraction…

With so much going on these days and the constant and growing need to feel and be connected, this is a great little pointer for how to better manage it all, and not get too consumed by it.

  • How often do you check e-mails?
  • Do you turn your phone off?
  • Do you use to-do lists?
  • Is there too much digital information?
  • Do you get much exercise?

A great link there back to running.  Running for me is a great distractor in itself – I’ve said before I don’t listen to music when I run and that helps me focus my mind on the running.  The pure freedom of just getting out and running is unbeatable and with the ability to keep pushing and improving yourself.

It’s the British 10k in less than one month’s time.  My training plan is going ok.  4 runs per week being done – pretty much, bar the week when my sister was over and a cold got the better of me.  Aiming for low 40 something minutes which I know I can do – need to focus on more speed work over the next 4 weeks.  Some great runs this week in the great British June weather – gales (which almost did knock me over), heavy rain (yes I got drenched) and sun!

Snow, rain, sun, hail or thunder? #LondonMarathon

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5 days away now and the weather forecasting guru’s are talking.  As a scientist (physics – real science) at heart, I don’t have much faith in long term weather forecasts – it’s all chaos theory and little butterflies flapping their wings in China could cause havoc.

But the bets are in and from a straw poll taken earlier today we have…

So about 10 degrees C and it might be cloudy with a bit of rain.  Lose the rain and I’m happy with that!

Another barrier cracked – 100 minutes

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Back under 100 minutes for the 1/2 marathon today.  A good result and my best time since the end of 2008 – and my third fastest 1/2 marathon.  Still a bit off my best time of 1:33:53, in the first Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon in 2008, but getting there.

A week of more fast runs this week:

  1. 10 miles with 4 x 1 mile intervals
  2. 6 miles with 5km fast
  3. 10 miles at (slow) recovery pace

And then 1/2 marathon on day 4.  Not much rest this week so far but good runs and under 100 minutes for the 1/2 marathon after 3 consecutive days running.

A great day to run today and the perfect weather, no more long sleeves and hat needed.  Sun out and blue skies.  Nice!

Rest day tomorrow, as in no running but a Lego-tastic day planned, at Legoland Windsor  for their Star Wars Invasion Weekend, complete with the guys from the UK Garrison (part of the 501st Legion) and a squadron or two of Stormtroopers and the rest of the gang.  Happy days!

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.

Where’s the snow this year?

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None to write home about this year, yet.  Lots last year though – at the beginning and end of the year.  Some of the pics we took below that I like…

[slideshow]

The UK daily tabloids – the Daily Express in particular – keep predicting arctic conditions to come every week (for about the last 4 weeks) with blizzards everywhere.

A white Christmas in 2011 in London?  Unlikely.