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.

4m | 34:51 | 8:41 | 159bpm

Still running very slowly – well barely running at all really. More of a moderate shuffle along the pavements of Cheshire. Anyway, I need to be patient. Regaining fitness after being granted freedom of the city of Slothville is going to take a little time. Maybe some earlier nights would help.

If the weather brightens up a little, I might get myself around Lyme Park with the hound later today, but at the moment it’s raining again (ah, good old Manchester weather).

6.5m | 56:50 | 8:38 | 172bpm

It’s probably time to check myself in! I can’t believe the heart rate I’ve recorded today given the (slow) speed. 172bpm takes me into 10k pace, but I’m running significantly slower than I ran the NYC marathon (8:28). I knew I’d lost some form and today was quite warm, but that heart rate is incredible. All of which leads me to the inevitable conclusion. I need a plan.

I’m going to spend some time revisiting some of my old training logs tonight and figure out a strategy. If I’m to improve on last year’s GNR time (let alone achieve a PB and complete in less than 1:32) there’s a huge amount of work to do. And my diet needs some attention too.

11m | 1:40:14 | 9:10 | 159bpm

This felt much more comfortable than my heart rate implies (quite elevated for what should be a long Sunday run). I should be running at about 8:30 pace and around 151bpm for this distance, which shows just how quickly form is lost when you eat too many vegan muffins and do too little exercise!

Time to put things right and pull myself back into shape. Nonetheless, a really enjoyable run in the sunshine and didn’t feel too taxing at all (but then it shouldn’t at 9 plus minutes per mile!).

MotionBased Log

View Larger Map

Yesterday I was writing about the spring in my step. Today it felt like somebody had replaced my trainers with a pair of wellies. This one really seemed like hard work. (Too much fader sliding and not enough sleep last night.)

It’s a good job I have a good feel for how poor today’s performance was because if I were relying on Runkeeper, I’d have done brilliantly! Yesterday the iPhone software added half a mile to the 6.5 mile run. Today, I complete 8 miles! So a pretty impressive performance really. I mentioned on Twitter that I’d be the first to complete a 32 mile marathon if the same level of inaccuracy occurred over 26.2 miles. Hilarious.

Anyway, that’s three strikes so the iPhone is to be restricted to calls, music and games. For training I need something a tad more reliable!

Another beautiful day, another fabulous run!

The early stages of any training block are always really enjoyable. Progress is generally quick and that “glad to be out again” feeling takes precedence over any of boredom or frustration. Today was one of those runs. Sunshine, gentle breeze, spring in the air, spring in my step (regardless of the pace, that’s how it felt!).

Still very frustrated with Runkeeper though. Managed to add a third of a mile to today’s run so as a reliable training tool, I’m beginning to reconsider.

Can’t believe it’s only April. Felt like a glorious summer’s day. Despite what Runkeeper says, today’s run was 6.5 miles (not 7). Nor did I reach 28 miles per hour! Runkeeper’s inaccuracy on a beautiful clear day with a full view of the sky is worrying to say the least. I think I’m going to have to resurrect the Forerunner 305 after all (after everything I’ve said about Garmin!)

Anyway, I’m not going to let technology ruin a lovely run in the sunshine. Today was glorious and you can’t beat a lunchtime run to shake out the cobwebs. Hoping to get away from work more or less on time today so I can take Buffy up to Lyme Park – I do feel guilty for leaving her in the house on a day like today.

I’m always prepared to see really slow times for my morning runs. I could blame the dog, but you’d know I was fibbing. (Actually she was pretty tired for the last half mile of today’s gentle jog around the park and I had to more or less drag her home.)

Beautiful morning and always a great way to start the day, regardless of how it feels as I step out the door!

If you ever visited this blog before, you’ll notice I’ve deleted all the content and started over. This wasn’t my usual fat-finger-zap-the-database-by-mistake deletion, but entirely intentional. With five months to go the Great North Run and very little training under my belt, I decided a completely fresh start was in order.

The same is true for music. I feel I’ve got enough of a grasp of Cubase fundamentals to create the kind of sounds I’ve been intending. Having put together six tracks of a pretty eclectic nature, it’s time to knuckle down and focus.

This site is an outlet for both of my passions – running and music (they’ll have to fight it out for billing but success in the latter is usually a function of consistency in the former).