I missed a couple of runs last week as Block 2 drew to a close and fell short of my overall planned mileage by 8% (achieving 279 of the 304 miles slated). I’m not desperately concerned about that. I feel like I have a solid base as I go into the next six weeks of higher impact training. This will be the first time I’ve done any interval sessions in quite a couple of years, so I’m sure those will hurt.

Yesterday’s fifteen miler was tough going for the last two or three as the temperature and humidity were both quite high. There were a couple of points when I thought that I might not complete, but I managed to get to the end – even if the pace did slow quite markedly!

This week is a step back week, so cutting the mileage back to 37 miles. That said, I was fifteen miles short of last week’s target, so I might try to drop some of those into this week.

I was supposed to run easy yesterday (and just seven miles), but got caught up in the moment and a mile into the run I decided to step up to tempo pace (166-172bpm), which I sustained for five miles. I could have kept going at this pace until the end – it felt very comfortable – but decided to slow back down to marathon pace for the last mile. I don’t want to rush into things!

Looks like we’re going to have a great week weather-wise, so looking forward to the running in the last 7 days of Block 2. Next week I’ll be introducing an interval session into each week’s training. (That’s when it starts to feel tough!)

Missed last week’s target by a mile (in this case, literally, so that’s no great shakes). I’m starting to get well and truly into the running during this training block, but I have to say I was surprised at how much I still weigh – even after around ten weeks of solid running. (Heaven knows how much weight I’d piled on since Christmas! Too much Cubase. Not enough Saucony.)

Making amends and I think with another 5-6 kilos shed, I should be at optimum weight for the distances I’m doing. I don’t want to tempt fate, but I seem to be running pretty injury-free right now (wishing I hadn’t typed that already) so I’ve added a field into my training spreadsheet to monitor the mileage for my trainers. They’re up to 80 miles already and still gleaming white, so at this rate running is going to get a little spendy again!

Step back week completed – back to the grind. First off this week is a fifteen mile run and since my watch is being replaced by Garmin, but hasn’t yet made it to Cheshire, I’m running “blind”. This may be no bad thing. I can listen to my heart and breathing, rather than scrutinising the 405 every mile or so.

All in all, the training’s going well so far. 350 of the 1,100 miles completed for the GNR 2010 schedule. I thought I might have shed a few more pounds than I have, but there’s plenty of time and I’m being pretty methodical, so it’ll definitely happen. What’s more important is that 10 weeks in, I’m really enjoying it and I’m definitely feeling the benefit. It’s a great time to be upping the miles. Summer’s here.

Having missed Sunday’s long run last week, I spent the week playing catch up again, but I managed to complete the 55 miles I had scheduled.

What’s worrying me is the lack of progress over the last eight weeks. My average pace and heart rate don’t seem to be improving at all. I guess it’s early days and I’ve only been running easy, but I did expect the heart rate to be tumbling by now, even if the pace was constant. I do hope things improve soon, but I can’t help feeling a bit despondent given all the effort I’m putting in.

This week is a step back week, so it’s just 37 miles running. Give those muscles a rest.

Last week’s mileage successfully completed, the start of Week 2 was briefly paused yesterday. With a touch of metatarsalgia, caused by worn out trainers (roll on pay day) and too many miles, I thought it prudent not to head out for a further fifteen miles yesterday. Instead, I’ll add 7 miles to today’s running and a 4 mile run to each of Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s schedules.

Despite the very slow pace, I do feel as though I’m finally shedding a few pounds. I’m curious to see how tomorrow’s tempo run shapes up, but I’m hoping it’s a little cooler than the 27 degrees we’ve been enjoying over the weekend.

Block 1 is behind me, but I’ve missed more runs than I should have (184 miles out of 229 scheduled, or around 80%). I need to fix that in Block 2, but I’m not feeling too despondent since Block 1 was devised simply to get me running again – just a whole load of easy miles.

That said, I am going to try to replace those 45 miles through Blocks 2, 3 and 4. I’ll distribute them through the step back weeks and with six of those left, adding one 7 mile run to each one will bring me more or less back on track.

Here’s what’s in store for the majority of weeks in Block 2.

Missing the first run of the week last week played havoc with my schedule. I tried to juggle extra runs into the remaining days and probably bit off more than I could chew. By Thursday I was starting to feel a niggle in the knee, so I cut the week short with an easy four miler on Friday lunch time and rested up until Sunday – it gave me a good excuse to watch the snooker too

No such omissions this weekend, but I do have a surprise trip to London for a gig (I won tickets in a Future Music competition!) which will mean switching a couple of runs around.

Third week of my training schedule for September’s Great North Run and a weird start to the week. Felt completely and utterly exhausted yesterday – as if somebody had sprinkled sleeping dust into the air. Genuinely, I could barely keep my eyes open in the afternoon so decided to miss my first run of the week. Not a great start but I’m aiming to replace the eleven miles missed with four additional short runs (with Buffy in the park) of three / four miles each.

Here’s the slightly revised plan for the week:

Shorter distance to cover this week (42 miles), but a couple of quality sessions (finally) after the drudgery of running at easy pace for five weeks. I also have to work around business travel, which despite only taking a relatively small chunk out of the week, invariably interferes with my “flow”.

It’s important not to add too many intensive sessions straight away, so I’m sticking to two tempo runs and another Lyme Park hilly run on Saturday. My midweek long run will be tomorrow (not really midweek) and with these dark winter evenings, I’ll miss the early evening park runs with the dog. We’ll make up for it on Saturday, Buffy.

Last week was a complete wash out. Never been so disappointed with my complete lack of commitment to a training schedule! Granted, there were a couple of days where it was less convenient than others, but there was a time when if it meant getting up at 5:30 to make sure the week’s mileage was completed, that was what happened.

I have committed to knocking some serious minutes off the appalling GNR time in September, so it’s time to knuckle down. This week’s mileage target MUST be hit. Thus begins the final week of Block 1. Next week it’s time for some quality.

Last week was a huge disappointment. No lack of effort or intention, just ill health and business travel conspiring against my running schedule. This kind of thing happens and you just have to put it behind you and move on.

This week’s target is 60 miles and, as ever 25% of the weekly mileage needs to be in the form of Sunday’s long run. So today, I psyched myself up for a fifteen miler – albeit at a very comfortable pace. The weather was lovely. A chill in the air (enough to wear gloves and the gimlet) but bright with an occasional appearance from the sun.

This is the penultimate week of 100% slow running and it will be great to add some quality sessions (hills, tempo and fartlek) to the mix the week after next. Tomorrow I’ll download, complete and send my entry for the Brass Monkey 1/2 Marathon in January. That’ll be a good incentive.

Up until Thursday evening, I felt on top of the world. During my long run, I swallowed a fly (common hazard for runners and not very vegan) and since then I’ve been pretty sick. I guess, given the lifestyle habits of a fly, a connection between said ingestion and shaking legs, fever and general uuurggghiness is entirely plausible.

Anyway, the top and bottom of this is that Saturday’s run was cancelled (I was in bed) and right now today’s is looking unlikely. Just as well that this is a step-back week and I’m supposed to be cutting my mileage in half.

The other thing which will impact on the schedule this week is a trip to Brighton and London on Wednesday / Thursday, so I’m trying to work my mileage around those days.

Delighted with the first week’s running. Didn’t quite manage to keep the heart rate at the desired level, but only 5bpm over which isn’t so bad really. Felt very comfortable at 9:40 (and so it should). I think the target for this week is to try to maintain – or perhaps even slightly improve on the average pace – whilst bringing the heart rate down to the 154 target (easy pace).

I’m looking to increase the mileage by 10 per cent this week, before a step back week next week. Step-back weeks will happen every third week. During a step-back week, mileage from the previous week is cut in half before proceeding to the next 10 per cent increase. Here’s the plan for week commencing 4th October.

With seventeen weeks until my next race, I want to bring the much referenced FOCUS to my training, so starting today, I’m embarking on a very prescriptive plan.

BLOCK 1

The next five weeks will be FOUNDATION (base) training. Lots of slow easy pace running with almost no “quality” sessions (hills, tempo, intervals, fartlek). My target is a minimum of 50 miles per week during Block 1 (step-back weeks excepted).

BLOCK 2

This will be followed by a QUALITY phase – six weeks of majority slow running with two or three quality sessions per week. These will be mainly hills and tempo sessions but by weeks five and six of this block, I may look to add one interval session per week.

BLOCK 3

The final block will be QUALITY and TAPER – four more weeks of quality running and a taper down over the last 10-14 days to race day.

So, my plan is to schedule each week on Sunday and add a comment to the post to say whether or not the day’s session(s) have been completed and how they went. The advantage of blogging it this way is that my site doesn’t become too running focused. Only one post per week about running.

All runs to be at EASY PACE (154bpm or lower)