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Deciding on a medium term goal
A few unfortunate events have conspired to thwart my plans to get fit enough to race a marathon in 2012. The most disruptive event was a bizarre accident in which I fell awkwardly while leaping onto a...
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Reality check
In the past 10 weeks I have run about 3 times a week on average, covering a total distance of about 280 Km in runs ranging from 3 Km up to 15 Km , across a variety of different types of terrain. The...
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Lessons from Ed Whitlock, Fauja Singh and Renato Canova
In a comment on my post two weeks ago about my first interval session since recommencing regular running after series of disruptive misadventures, Thomas suggested that I would be better off...
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Training to increase sprinting speed
The issues raised by Klas in his comments on my recent post on Usain Bolt’s sprinting style have led me to wonder just what it is that determines peak sprinting speed and what a runner might do to...
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Progress
After a frustrating few years in which illnesses and an accident had frustrated my attempts to get fit, by the end of summer 2011, I was ready to make another start on the challenge of preparing for a...
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An unconventional start to the taper
As outlined in my recent post, I have been able to train consistently, and largely according to plan, for over a year. I have done virtually all the planned key sessions in preparation for the Robin...
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The end of the taper
It is two days from the end of my taper for the Robin Hood half-marathon on Sunday. Tomorrow will be a rest day. On Saturday I will run about 4 Km easily, including several short stride-outs at...
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Resistance training for distance runners
Classically, a sprinter has the torso of an ox while a marathon runner has spindly legs and arms. Sprinters spend a substantial time in the gym lifting weights and afterwards eat a lot of protein;...
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Hopping: Paula Radcliffe, Mo Farah and me
On Saturday, I repeated the hopping test. I consider the distance covered in 5 hops on one leg is a good test of running-specific strength. Seb Coe used to do a similar test. He could cover 25 metres...
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Is prolonged vigorous training bad for your health?
In a comment on my recent post, Steve asked what I thought of James O’Keefe’s recent TED lecture ‘Run for Your Life! At a comfortable pace, and not too far’. The short response is that I agree with...
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Base-building for a half marathon/marathon
I need once again to re-build my aerobic base. Last year, I enjoyed a year free of ill-health, and after averaging a little over 40 miles of predominantly low aerobic training each week in the spring...
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Planning the half-marathon campaign
Although my campaign to run another ‘good’ marathon before age 70 has been buffeted by various misadventures, including an accident, several episodes of illness and occasional recurrence of arthritis,...
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Monitoring stress, recovery and fitness
The gains from training effort vary greatly both within and between individuals. Genes and life-time training history play a large part in determining differences between individuals in response to...
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Assessing fitness and detecting over-training: the running version of the...
The art of effective training is maintaining a training load sufficient to produce steady improvement while avoiding the damaging effects of over-training. A reliable way of assessing improvement in...
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Base-building for a half marathon: an ambitious goal
The ambitious goal After a series of minor illnesses in recent years, the capricious gods that dictate the health of the elderly smiled on me for a period of eighteen months from mid-2011 to the end of...
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Half-marathon training: transition from base building to race-specific training
I have set myself the ambitious target of setting the clock back six years by bettering my M60 half-marathon best time, achieved in 2007. The intervening 6 years have brought a series of minor...
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Does anaerobic training damage aerobic fitness?
I am now well into the final phase of race-specific preparation for the Robin Hood half marathon in September. I have added two sessions per week of moderately high intensity training, such as...
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Responses to training and to over-training
I am now tapering for the Robin Hood half marathon, five days away. After a frustrating start to the year, in which a recurrence of arthritis limited my training for a few months, I have been able to...
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Robin Hood Half Marathon and plans for the future
I lined up for the Robin Hood half marathon yesterday hopeful, but uncertain. I had a successful six months of training behind me. By using of the sub-maximal tests described in my posts in June and...
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Too many long runs?
A few days reflection, a more detailed examination of my training logs, and an interesting discussion with Robert regarding nutrition in the comments on my recent post about the Robin Hood half...
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